Scorned
by ColoredCats
Summary: What does an insecure girl and a reviled boy have in common? Barely anything, but Gumi must now tutor the widely despised Kagamine Len if she wants to be happy again. When Gumi's goal seems to be in reach, everything untangles and collapses beneath her, leaving her to wonder if her sanity is worth sacrificing for an alleged murderer. (Changed to M for very strong language)
1. Part 1, Ch 1

**I have left some 'notes' at the end of this chapter. For now, enjoy (or don't.)**

The air was as crisp as the cold water in the nearby river, with a sky as grey as the bleary concrete sidewalk that was littered with small cracks in between and among the edges of the weak cement. Despite the unsteady platform, Gumi preferred the bleak weather over anything else: The sun couldn't burn her alive, and it was too warm for snowflakes to crystallize. She would have been much more content if she didn't have to go to school this morning; she would have been completely content if she didn't have to walk with Piko. The pregnant silence between Gumi and her brother would have driven a librarian up a wall.

Her brother stayed on her left, marching frigidly as he stepped from the concrete onto the short wooden bridge to cross over the river. The harsh winds didn't faze him at all. The wind tousled and pulled Gumi's hair to the front of her face. Meanwhile, the wind didn't dare to touch Piko, afraid that it would catch a chill from him. Gumi peered down at her shorter sibling and frowned at his stoic hair, moving only to the beat of his march. It seemed that the wind only favored him, or he had put some kind of industrial strength gel into his hair before they left their house. Gumi pulled her thick hair, greener than the grass that was dying from the cold, away from her eyes. The wind may have found comfort in her, but her current mood would have driven it away; she concealed her negativity inside her like a box, locked up with a metal lock. If exposed, everything around her would have turned into a frozen wasteland.

Gumi spoke as soon as they stepped back onto the hard concrete. "Do you have all of your school supplies?" Gumi asked.

She didn't receive a reply. Gumi shivered at the sudden slap from the bitter wind, punishing her for thinking that her brother would even both to respond to her meager question. She wondered if her brother was capable of making it snow with his frosty attitude.

"How about your transfer papers?"

He yawned and pulled his cellphone out from his pocket halfway to view the time. Gumi swore she felt a wrinkle form on her face from scowling so frequently.

"Piko, you can't keep up this charade. You're too old to be acting like this."

The wind whistled in Gumi's ears. She growled with frustration and shook her head. She had to get through to him before they approached the school. It was the first time together they had been alone, and Gumi was sure it would be the last time. He would have avoided her from the start if he knew where the school building was.

"Piko, at least acknowledge that we're here because mom sacrificed everything. She's the lowest man on the totem pole now at her nursing job, and she did it for us so we didn't have to suffer anymore." The continuing silence only encouraged Gumi. "Mom moved here for you. Do you know how often she cries at night because of the things you did? She hoped moving here would encourage you to actually go to school and try to get good grades. Jesus Christ, Piko, if I can smile and bullshit everything, so can you."

Piko was in front of his sister several feet away, his feet thumping against the sidewalk vigorously. Gumi quickened her pace.

"Piko, just try. Just try, so mom's efforts won't be in vain."

Piko's backpack swished back and forth rapidly. Gumi watched her brother's back sprint away from her. She gasped, her feet burning in her black ballerina flats as she attempted to match his pace.

"Piko, listen to me! I know you're mad at me," Gumi hollered in between pants, "but not everything is my fault!"

"Yes, it is!" Piko stopped himself immediately, his heels grinding into the concrete as he twisted himself around to growl at his sister.

Gumi stopped herself a few feet away from him. She panted heavily and leaned down, her hands on her knees as she tried to hold herself up. "God, Piko, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"We had to leave town because of you," Piko screamed accusingly. "Because of dad-"

"Are you kidding me?" Gumi laughed tiredly while she wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "Piko, he's dead. He's buried six feet under now. Get over it."

"You have the nerve to say that about him?" Piko grimaced. "After you glorified him for your whole life, you say _that_ about him?"

Gumi laughed pathetically while she wiped sweat away from her brow. She stared at the ground as she shook her head, avoiding Piko's toxic gaze. "He's dead and gone, Piko, just accept it. You can't even completely blame me for this, Piko. How could you blame me entirely? At least admit your own faults. Mom moved here so she could save you from embarrassment after you fucking shoplifted a convenient store. You're not even close to being innocent."

"At least I wasn't the talk of the town for months."

Piko attempted to turn away but Gumi grasped his wrist tightly, twisting his body around to make him look at her face.

"It's my fault that I didn't want to go outside after our own father died? And at least I wasn't dumb enough to get caught stealing candy. Everything would have been kept a secret if you didn't say a word to anyone."

"You could have held mom more highly. She moved here so she didn't have to be embarrassed of you anymore." Piko jerked his wrist out of Gumi's grasp, glaring at her strongly, clearly demonstrating his dead sympathy. "I had the right to tell everyone about your pathetic grab for attention. We both know that you did more than lay around like a slob for months after you killed dad.

"Stop saying I killed him." Gumi grimaced. "You idolized him as much as I did. At least I can admit that his death was because of his own mistakes."

"No, you made him feel guilty! Worthless!" Piko accused, "And I felt like that too after he died, and you should be feeling guilty! You should be in prison!"

"God forbid we try to have a civilized conversation. Unbelievable." Gumi's hands slapped onto her thighs accordingly to Gumi's disbelief. She knew it was unreasonable to talk sense into an unruly prepubescent boy. "I'm sorry I tried to reach out to you. I'm sorry that everything is my fault." Gumi snapped. She sighed heavily as any hope she had left exited her body. She gazed up at her hateful brother tiredly, with only a few ounces of kindness left inside her for her brother. "Would it actually make you feel better if I just stayed away from you?"

"It would."

Gumi felt her throat tighten and her heart crack. Her eyes became stone cold, not ready to release any emotion. She couldn't cry in front of her younger brother, or else his assumptions about her would be right. She clenched at the straps on her backpack, her fingernails digging into the material harshly. "Piko, at least don't get into any more trouble."

"You're not my fucking mother. You're just an embarrassment, Gumi. You're a loser who can't even accept lousy crap to happen to her. It became clear after you cut your-"

"Don't you even say it."

Piko blew air from out of his nostrils, and shook his head at Gumi with disappointment. "Stay out of my life, Gumi. It'll be better for mom and for the both do us. Good luck trying to suck up to her now that _daddy_ is gone. Go ahead and hide behind mom's apron now that you can't tug on your his pant leg anymore."

He almost turned away, but his hesitation snapped, and he cast his sister one final glare. "You should have died."

Her hands trembled and her vision blurred as she watched her brother fade away, drifting farther away from her with each haughty step he took. As his figure disappeared into the horizon, Gumi lifted her shaky fingers to the top of her head and gripped her neon green hair, unable to cope with the blatant cruelty from her young brother.

"Fuck you!"

The scream carried out into the cold, empty air, sailing through the wind like an unwanted letter. Only the frightened birds acknowledged Gumi's screech, flying out of their nests to search for a safer place. Gumi sniffled and dabbed the wetness off of her red cheeks, feeling tempted to rip the tear ducts out of her eyes.

"Fuck you." She murmured.

She released her hair from her fingers, letting the green strands hover over her hunched shoulders. She rubbed her cold, vibrating hands together, then gently rubbed her right wrist with her left hand, then rubbed her other wrist, going back and forth repeatedly while she walked to her new school. By the time she had reached the building, she had managed throw on her facade. She lifted her head up slightly, offered a simple smile to the students that worthlessly tried to identify her, and hopped onto the staircase with other students hurrying to their homeroom, draining the unpleasant memory of the walk to school with each step.

* * *

To Gumi, the miserable part of going to a new junior high school was introducing herself. Repeatedly.

First, it was to the staff of the school as she handed in the last of her transfer papers. Next, it was in homeroom, where she said her name while trying to prevent the hotness of her face from consuming her. Lastly, it was in gym class, with a group of boys loudly asking who the 'cutie' was. It was the last thing Gumi ever wanted to happen to her, never mind the fact that she didn't want eyes on her in the first place. Gumi considered dropping dead right there on the track- but the possibility of her being buried in the school's horrendous gym uniform deterred her. Gumi's head shot up when she heard a smack that was loud enough for all of Japan to hear. A boy suddenly had a red mark on his face, with a tiny, petite girl scolding him. Gumi almost laughed at the scene.

"That hurt, Miku!"

"It would have hurt a lot worse if I shoved my foot up your ass. Are you already straying from me, Kaito? Hmm? How can I marry you fifteen years from now if you're already explicitly demonstrating the signs of a housebreaker?"

"I wasn't even laughing! Leon started it!"

"N-no!" The accused boy stammered.

Gumi watched the petite girl growl; Leon, a suddenly anxious-looking blond, sprinted off, along with the other mischievous boys. Kaito and Miku remained, with Gumi huffing behind them.

"Hey, I'm sorry about Leon's behavior, he's an- are you okay?"

"Wha?" Gumi panted, her cheeks red from extreme exertion. She could barely focus on anything, not with the fire raging through her leg muscles. She focused on the ground instead of Kaito's face. "I-I'm fine!"

Gumi heard Miku groan. "You're free to join your pack again, Kaito. I guess I'll have to apologize for you."

"It wasn't even my fault." Kaito whined. "Jesus, don't get your panties in a bunch."

Kaito sprinted off before Miku could chastise him, leaving Gumi to wonder how he could suddenly break out into a sprint after running a mile. The tiny girl in front of her slowed down and grinned, her marble-white teeth gleaming.

"I'm so sorry about them."

"O-oh, t-that's -gasp- alright." Gumi grunted.

Her bubblegum-pink lips curled downwards. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Y-yeah, I-I just haven't ran like this in about...never."

Miku giggled, her pigtails swaying in rhythm with her bubbly appearance. She took a moment to say hello to a group of girls who jogged by them. Gumi gasped repeatedly and offered the girl a pained frown, yet marveled at the lack of shimmering sweat on Miku's forehead, rather than being mystified over her long teal hair (Then again, her hair was the color of a bush). She found herself soon looking into Miku's owl-like eyes, bluer than any sapphire in existence, with a shimmer in her irises that was brighter than glitter.

Miku directed her attention to the shorter girl again. "You're Gumi."

"R-right." Gumi puffed, still in awe over Miku's eyes. She was pleasantly surprised that a seemingly popular girl like her actually remembered her name.

Miku raised a thin eyebrow, more so as she wondered why the out-of-shape girl was putting herself through torture. "...you don't have to keep running."

Gumi snapped out of her trance, embarrassed. "But I thought we had to run all two miles?"

"No, only the first two laps."

Gumi looked around the track and watched other students walk with ease. She halted and groaned. "My legs..."

Miku slowed her pace and strolled with her. She waited for Gumi to catch her breath before she spoke further.

"I'm Miku."

"C-cool." Gumi slicked her hair back into a ponytail. "I'm Gumi- no, sorry, you already know." She pointed towards the blue haired boy across the track. "And that's your boy-?"

"Friend? Yes, he's my friend, that's all."

"Well, you made it sound like-"

"Just friends." Miku almost frowned at her own statement, seeming upset by the truth of that sentence, but her bright, broad smile remained plastered onto her face. "I guess it's too early to say otherwise, but do you like it here?"

Gumi raised an eyebrow, surprised that Miku was still talking to her. "It's alright. I just didn't expect it to be a zoo." Gumi glared at the group of cat-callers that had begun to aimlessly sprint around the track like cheetahs.

Miku's sudden laugh pierced Gumi's ears. By instinct, she almost covered her ears. Instead, she winced inwardly. Her marvel over Miku's large eyes and porcelain face faded into the air like a wisp of smoke.

"Yeah, our school is filled with animals." Miku rolled her eyes. "No joke. We even have a maggot."

"I'm guessing that's Leon?" Gumi gestures to the blond boy running (literally) amuck as he darted past them and shrieked obnoxiously like a chimpanzee.

"He's more like a mentally handicapped gazelle. No, I meant a different creep."

He was a mix between a chimpanzee and a gazelle? Who knew? "Who is the other creep?"

Miku abruptly shrieked shrilly when Kaito ran over to poke Miku's side. Miku ranted angrily while Kaito ran away laughing, rejoining his pack again.

"I swear to God, Kaito, you're the actual maggot around here!"

"It was just a love-tap, Miku!" Kaito shouted.

"I think you bruised me." Miku whined. She held onto her side and complained. Once Miku's griping hit five minutes, Gumi attempted to walk away, pumping her sore legs against the red platform quickly until Miku caught up to her.

"Sorry, I shouldn't waste my time getting angry over that. He was just playing around. He can be such a nuisance sometimes, after he spends hours hanging around with a bunch of animals."

"It's okay." Gumi shrugged and mimicked a casual mood, but Miku's bipolar attitude and high pitched voices had given her a headache. Miku seemed to be easily upset; Gumi wouldn't have been surprised if Miku started hollering over a loose thread hanging from the end of her shirt. The thought of what Miku was like on her period gave her goose-bumps.

"If it makes you feel better, you'd make a great peacock," Gumi said, hoping to drive her away with a weird comment.

There was a moment of silence before Miku shrieked with laughter again. Gumi didn't hide her nose-scrunching cringe.

"I-I forgot what a peacock looked for a second, and then it clicked! I didn't think about a peacock." Miku twirled one of her teal pigtails and giggled enthusiastically. "Cute!"

"Great." Gumi smiled weakly, while she imagined smashing her green-haired self against a brick wall.

"Hey, Yukari! I look like a peacock, don't I?"

Alarmed at attracting attention, Gumi began to jog away, then full out sprinted to the locker rooms when the gym teacher blew the whistle. For a moment, the whistle sounded like church bells to her.

Her legs were burning and she had just accidentally befriended the girl with the highest vocal chords on Earth, but Gumi's only blessing was that she was only considered a maggot to her brother. For Gumi, everything could have gone much worse. At least when the day was over, she could hide in her room again.

Upon being the first to reach the locker rooms, Gumi looked at the clock. She wouldn't be home for another four hours. She collapsed onto the metal bench and groaned with despair.

"For someone that hates running, you ran like a bat out of hell to get off the track," Said the obnoxiously perky voice.

Gumi cast Miku a glare. "I can't feel my legs."

"You'll feel better in no time!"

Miku, with well meaning, slapped Gumi's thigh playfully; Gumi screamed from the spreading pain and fall off the bench, wringing on the ground.

"...heh heh. I'm going to get changed."

Gumi laid face-down on the floor. "Get away from me before I throw my sneakers at you."

"See you later!" Miku cheerfully yelled from the opposite end of the locker room. "I'll introduce you to my other friends, too!"

Gumi began to hit her head repeatedly against the floor. So much for fading into the background.

* * *

"Bye, Gumi!"

Gumi sighed tiredly while she leaned down to pick up a discarded pencil off the floor. She waved farewell to Miku, and tossed the broken pencil in the garbage. She said goodbye to her teacher, and walked out with the rest of the students who had just finished up cleaning the school.

Gumi sweat as she became locked into the crowd of students. Her senses heightened, and she became overly conscious. She probably smelt like garbage, especially after she forgot to put deodorant on after gym class. She heard a laugh. Was it about her? Now worked up, Gumi wormed her way out the crowd and panted with relief when she freed herself from the sea of teenagers. She leaned against the wall, and gazed out the windows surrounding her.

"I have some time to kill." Gumi glanced at her phone to peek at the time. She took a look around the hallway before she continued walking, deciding to explore on her own, knowing that Piko wouldn't wait up for her. Gumi hoped that he hadn't found a new group of delinquents to pal around with.

The school was smaller than Gumi anticipated, but she couldn't be shocked; The town itself was smaller than a robin's egg. This was the kind of town where everyone knew each other, where childhood friends still clung next to each other, arms linked together, bonded together by memories and gossip. Kahiru, Gumi's new town, was too tiny for her. Especially after accidentally befriending Miku, Gumi knew that trying to make herself disappear from the eyes of the school would be impossible. To them, she was only a foreigner. Kahiru was practically cut off from the rest of Japan, located several hours away from any other kind of town, locked in the middle of empty roads and bumpy landscapes. From getting to Kahiru from her old village, it took four hours by car just to reach the outskirts. Gumi didn't need to doubt that there wasn't a reason why her mother cut themselves off from the rest of Japan, locating them to a town that sounded foreign to them.

The school didn't seem so harrowing, though. Gumi held onto the metal bannister as she traveled to the first floor again. At least she didn't have to worry over being late to classes, now that she was in a school less than half the size of her previous school. She still had to worry about exams, though, in order to get into high school. She'd never avoid that, especially being in her last year of junior high. She tried to distract her mind from the fact that she was basically starting over again, at the worst possible time.

Gumi threw her hands behind her back and walked down the hallways. She decided to play hopscotch on the tiles. Her hair bounced as she hopped on her one foot, her feet still in her school shoes. She remembered when she was young, crudely drawing a hopscotch board with chalk for her and Piko to play on. Her brother never had the balance for hopscotch, and she would always win, because she was bigger, as she put it. Then her mother would usually scold her for making Piko feel bad about himself.

Gumi smiled nostalgically, picturing Piko with his chubby cheeks and grubby hands. The smile faded; She couldn't understand how Piko went from innocent to crude in a matter of months after their father's death. Perhaps it was wrong of her to think he'd lie around the house and pity himself, like she did. It was her fault in the first place that she made Piko the delinquent he was now. It was her own fault that her father was dead, too. Even her own mother knew, no matter how many times she denied it to her own daughter.

Gumi felt her chest buckle under the weight of her thoughts. She leaned against a wall and continued to blame herself for her father's death and the events that followed after it. If she had just kept her mouth locked up and tossed away the key, she would still be home in her previous village. It was wrong of her to take Piko away from his friends (even if they were a bad influence.) Worse, she stole the most important figure in his life away from him. Gumi shut her eyes and gulped back the growing knot in her throat. Gumi attempted to ignore her emotions and went to retrieve he regular shoes. She came out of the locker rooms wadding in her white socks, her brown loafers hanging lethargically by the tips of her fingers. She walked down the hallway with her pessimistic emerald eyes glued to the floor.

A distant shout almost made Gumi jump out of her own pale skin, making her fumble and drp her loafers. With wide eyes (she imagined that they were just as wide as Miku's), she raced to the windows. The sprawling windows covered a good view of the blacktop. She saw a group of boys a good few feet away, and at first, she thought they were wrestling with each other to the ground, packed together like sardines.

A boy moved away from the pile of boys to let Gumi see their bloody, bruised victim. Her eyes widened with paralyzed horror. The gang took turns pushing him around as if he were a limp ragdoll, unraveling him whenever he tried to curl up in ball to prevent further harm to his black and blue body. Gumi, distanced far enough from the violence, was close enough to see the hollowness in the boy's eyes as he was dragged by his shirt and slammed into the blacktop, pinned down by the largest boy of the group. She almost screamed for them to stop, but it became clogged in her throat. If she opened her mouth, she'd end up killing the boy, the exact same way she accidentally killed her father. She couldn't let someone else die because of her loose tongue.

One of the boys lifted his head and cast his eyes towards Gumi's direction. Alarmed, she hid against the wall. When she managed to convince herself to look out the window again, the pack was still there, still feasting on the smaller boy. She watched a student pass them, and fiercely hoped that the other student would help the poor boy. Instead, he only walked off, permitting the thugs to continue their assaults. Another group of students passed by; they laughed at the bloody boy's misfortune. Gumi watched with disbelief, her eyes swinging from the injured eyes to the howling students left and right. She felt stupid for thinking that the gentleness of the school portrayed the students. That was far from the truth.

Gumi stalled for a few more moments. She threw her loafers to the ground and debated whether or not she should aid the boy. It didn't seem that the large group of boys would give up on the student anytime soon. Even if her words killed people, her mouth wouldn't help if it was punched in by one of the brutes. She trembled and silently apologized before she ran out of the building.

* * *

"And just remember," The thick voice hissed, "don't even try to back out of our after-school 'sessions'. I'm not going to miss wrestling practice because of you, maggot."

The small, gaunt, and barely-conscious student nodded.

"Say it."

"I-I understand, Gakupo." The boy choked.

Gakupo released the boy from his shirt and dropped him. "You better be here tomorrow." Gakupo snapped. "And the day after that, and every single goddamn day after that until I say so."

The boy on the ground and closed his eyes and nodded weakly.

Satisfied, the group left, while agreeing quietly how much of a waste of space he was and how his filth stained their once freshly-pressed uniforms. The boy left to bleed on the ground couldn't disagree; He was filth. He was only a stain on the blacktop, only a speck of mold on a slice of white bread. Physical punishment and verbal harassment was the only attention he deserved, and everyone around him had no trouble reminding him of that, especially Gakupo.

He opened his swollen eyes. The whites were completely bloodshot, his irises dulled from the pain. The pain paralyzed him, making him unable to even twitch his nose without wanting to cry. He knew better than to cry, as the salty tears would only seep into the lacerations on his cheeks and burn his face. He decided to count his blessings while he waited for the pain enveloping his body to alleviate.

'I'm glad I'm not dead' was the only 'blessing' he could think of, and that was an excuse that could only be hissed through clenched teeth.

* * *

**I'm so sorry that I wrote this why ;Д;**

**Six months going onto seven. THAT is how long it took me to get to this point. This story has evolved and is STILL evolving. It's ridiculous that I can't make up my mind, but I'm confident that I have the story on a clear path now.**

**Just some notes:**

**1) In Japan, there are two high schools: a 'lower' and an 'upper' high school. It is similar to middle school/high school in America…but it's not. In order to go to upper high school, students must apply and be accepted. Not all students go to the same upper high school. In order to be able to even get a job, students need to at least attend upper high school. School in Japan is compulsory up until ninth grade. It sort of annoys me that writers in the Vocaloid fandom base the Japanese school system off of the American system…it does not work like that. At all. Granted, everyone makes mistakes.**

**2) Japanese students use their desks to hold their books and utensils in. They only have lockers for their shoes. They put their outside sneakers in their locker, and wear slippers/shoes that the school gives them for the whole school day.**

**3) Japanese schools don't have janitors! Instead, students work together after school to clean up the school. Teamwork is goal in Japan. However, uniformity is an issue in Japan. America is a nation that is more open to individuality than Japanese is.**

**4) Mental illness is a very strained topic in Japan. Mental illnesses, such as depression, are not acknowledged. People in Japan diagnosed with a mental illness have a very difficult time getting a job, hence why the suicide rate is VERY high in Japan: many Japanese with mental illness suffer in silence. The issue of mental illness will be a theme in **_**Scorned**_**.**

**Hopefully, you learned a few things. If I made any mistakes, let me know! Any reviews are appreciated. Also, I'm leaving for Spain for college in a few days, sooo it may be awhile before I update as I REALLY need to get my stuff together kldflksa. I have chapter two more than halfway done, so not all is lost. In the meantime, thank you for even bothering to read this! ʘ w ʘ**

**btw for those of you wondering if this is a Gumi/Len story...I haven't made up my mind bUT I WILL (someday ;^;) But there's no Len/Rin because they're siblings in this story. There is NOOOO incest in this story, only melodramatic sibling conflicts. I'm never going to write incest between Len/Rin either because no.**

**Have a good day! C:**


	2. Part 1, Ch 2

His hallow eyes stayed with her the whole night, following her home and into bed. Even when she thought she had shaken the sickening feeling away and had peeled the image off from her throbbing brain, the image would come back clearer, dripping back into her mind faster and thicker than blood that trickled down the boy's head and down the bridge of his nose during the event of his torment. Gumi's trance didn't lift. She found herself cautiously walking through the hallways the following morning, hoping to hear anyone else mention the beating she had witnessed. Any gossip she heard in the hallways was, to her despair, not related to the boy, and she wondered if she had gotten her reality mixed up with her nightmares. She was left out in the dark for the whole morning, left to stare at her lunch during the middle of the day while her stomach performed cartwheels, left to wonder why she was being affected by his eyes. She had seen death and poverty before, and the sight of watching him being beaten to the ground shouldn't have surprised her. Gumi knew that it had to be the eyes, the eyes that lacked a twinkle that other eyes had, with irises that lacked any hope, completely devoid of any desire to _live_.

She tapped her chopsticks against her bento box slowly, staring at her face in the metal reflection. Gumi knew why his eyes affected her so much now.

"Gumi!"

Gumi, unprepared for the screech, lifted her head up, panicked until she saw it was Miku. She groaned, rubbing her baggy eyes. "Hi, Miku."

"You look a bit lonely, no?"

"Eeeh," Gumi stalled, "I think I want to eat alone for now," She said honestly.

"No, here, I'll bring my desk over!"

In a flash, Miku's desk was pushed across from Gumi's. Gumi placed her face into her hands while Miku took a seat.

"Yukari and Lily are in the bathroom, but they can join us when they get back. How's life?"

"It's actually going terribly."

She watched Miku's smile disappear. "My bad. Yeah, you do look wiped out." Miku pursed her lips upon observation. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk." Gumi grumbled. She frowned deeply upon wondering if Miku knew about the abused boy. His eyes reflected off of her soy sauce. She shivered. "Actually..."

"What's wrong?" Miku plucked a piece of salmon into her mouth. She eyed Gumi with actual concern. Her eyes suddenly froze. "Are those butt-fuckers giving you trouble again?"

"'Butt-fuckers'?" Gumi raised her eyebrows, almost amused at the term. "If you mean the cat callers from gym class, the no, it wasn't."

"Then what's wrong? To be honest, you look a bit frazzled."

"I have my mind occupied on a lot of other crap."

"Like what?"

Gumi gulped nervously. "Yesterday after school-"

"Oh God, did one of the teachers hit on you? Y'know, Meiko-sensei tried to-"

"No!" Gumi yelled out of frustration.

"Meiko tried to flirt with Kaito once." Miku mentioned, her eyes hardening again. "I don't even understand how she still has her job. Sometimes she comes to school drunk off of her high horse and-" Her eyes met Gumi's annoyed frown. "Sorry."

Gumi suddenly ran her hands through her hair, twirling a long strand unsurely, believing the supposed unimportance of her thoughts. "No, never mind."

"Aw, c'mon, Gumi!" Miku wailed. She pouted while whining loudly.

"No, forget it."

"Please?!"

The high pitched whining reminded Gumi of a small, peppy dog that was impossible to shut up unless it was shot point blank on the head. Gumi sighed. The eyes wouldn't leave her alone until she got his eyes off of her chest. "Alright," She said reluctantly. Gumi didn't give Miku time to interject. "After school, I was checking out the building, walking around, shit like that. I got back down to the bottom floor and...and there were these guys just beating on this kid outside on the blacktop-"

Miku's lips settled into a firm pink line. "Did he have blond hair?"

"Who? The kid they were beating on?"

"Yeah." Miku frowned.

Gumi wavered at the unanticipated annoyance in Miku's eyes. She said something wrong already, hadn't she? "He did, but you could barely tell with all the blood-"

"Oh, he's fine." Miku sneered.

Gumi choked, completely puzzled by Miku's unsympathetic reaction. "_Fine_? Miku, they were kicking his rib cage in!"

"His name's Len." Miku tore the cap off of her water bottle. "You didn't get involved with the fight, did you?"

"N-no." Gumi shook her head with disbelief. "There were kids walking by and ignoring the fact that he was getting his face punched into his skull. Some people laughed."

Miku shrugged. "He gets beaten up every day because of all the shit he pulls."

"Like what?" Gumi nearly screamed.

"Ugh, Gumi, he's just a maggot." Miku clutched her water bottle tight, crackling it as her knuckles whitened. "He's creepy as hell; he used to stalk me when he was younger-"

Gumi cringed. "Really?"

"Yeah, he's a psychopath. Stay away from him. There's a reason why he's hated."

"Okay." Gumi muttered unsurely. His black eyes only became larger.

Miku sighed. "Some people deserve to be outcasts, Gumi, so everybody knows to stay away from them. Len is a creep, and it's important that you know that so he doesn't hurt you. The things he's done goes way back, but it'd take a day and a half for me to explain it all to you." Miku's face fell, her eyes now cloudy. "I don't like to explain it. He's done a lot of crappy shit to me and my friends."

Gumi felt a twinge of guilt. "I-I'm sorry, Miku."

"It's alright." Miku smiled brightly again when she saw her friends approaching from behind Gumi."Yukari and Lily are back!"

"Hey, Mi." A girl taller than the Eiffel Tower (seemingly so to the short Gumi) walked over. Her blonde hair, longer than her skirt, swished over her shoulder as she stood over their desks. Gumi strained to lean her head back to gaze at Lily's face.

"Gumi, this is Lily!" Miku gestured to the blonde. "She's a gentle giant."

"Miku, I'm not giant! Cut it out with that." Lily grudged.

Miku giggled. "And this is Yukari."

The smaller girl smiled lightly, but it quickly disappeared. She twirled one of her purple pigtails. "Hi."

"Miku," Lily sighed with sudden frustration. "You need to smack your goddamn boyfriend."

"Kaito?" Miku sighed. "What did he do now?"

"He fucking dropped out of tutoring."

"What?"

"And we tried calling Gakupo, but he has a wrestling match tomorrow tonight." Lily muttered.

"Great, we have no one to tutor one of the younger kids tomorrow." Yukari groaned.

"Fuck." Miku shook her head. "We can't cancel on him. God, this club is going down the shitter." Miku let her head fall onto her desk. She groaned pitifully. "I'm going to find a way to shove Kaito's math textbook up his ass!"

Gumi's ears, which distanced themselves from the conversation, perked up at Miku's last sentence. "Kaito taught math?" Gumi asked.

"We don't need him. He didn't teach algebra that well, anyway."

Gumi frowned at her decision, but seeing Miku distressed made her feel guilty. "I know advanced algebra, if you need help."

Lily looked at Yukari with hesitation. "You're the other head. You can make a decision without Gakupo for now,."

"Well," Yukari sighed after thinking it over, "How do we know? You could still suck, even if you were taught 'advanced' algebra."

"Wha-? Gumi isn't a liar, guys!" Miku vouched. "We'll just give her some test questions to see how well she does. Is that fine, Gumi?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Gumi's brushed a stray piece of rice from off of her skirt. "My mom wants me to join a club, anyway. She tired of me just sitting around my room."

"Just swing by after school so we can test you out," Yukari said. "Don't forget your head, either."

* * *

Gumi eyed the numerous mathematical problems on the piece of paper. She gulped, forgetting the last time she had performed a complete exponential equation.

"You have twenty minutes, Gumi. We're going to get a snack. Want anything?"

"No thanks, Yukari." Gumi groaned. She stared at the various algebra problems anxiously as the door shut behind them.

"Come on, brain." Gumi buried her head into her arms. "Please?"

_"Exponents aren't that difficult, Gum."_

_Gumi huffed at her father. "Easy for you to say."_

_The engineer chuckled deeply. He scratched his dark green hair with his thick fingers sheepishly. "Okay, fair enough."_

_Gumi sighed. "I can't even use a calculator?" She stared at her neglected calculator anxiously. _

_"__If you want to excel in your math club, you need to learn to do this stuff in your head." Her dad mentioned._

_Gumi groaned. "But it's a Sunday. Piko gets to watch cartoons, but not me?"_

_"Would you rather get this done now, or later?" He asked patiently._

_Gumi sucked in her lips as her father tapped his pencil against the desk. "Fiiine." She leaned into the table and almost barked at the menacing math problem._

_"Now, let me show you how to get this done with just a pencil and paper."_

_And he showed her. It was almost poetry, from Gumi's perspective. He rushed into the algebra problem with ease, his pencil gliding over the paper without hesitation. He completed the problem better and faster than her fourth grade teacher ever wished he could._

_"How...how did you do that?"_

_"It just takes practice, Gum."_

_"Gumi." She corrected him sternly, yet feigned annoyance while she attempted to hide the smile reaching her cheeks._

_"You don't like it, Gum? Gum, Gum?"_

_She giggled as her father poked her side repeatedly with her pencil. She cast her eyes down to the paper, and her father explained every sing step with such clarity that Gumi wondered how she ever became confused in the first place. It was all so simple-_

"Oh, duh."

* * *

"Why are you friends with her after like, a day? She's literally only been here for a day! It's been a day and you've been hovering around her ever since."

Miku crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "Because she seemed nice? I'm not hesitating to befriend her just because she's an 'outsider'."

Yukari raised her eyebrows and put a coin through the slot of the vending machine. She had her eyes on the cake roll. She pressed a few buttons to retrieve her snack, losing her train of thought as she focused on her growling stomach.

"Yukari?"

Yukari excitedly retrieved her snack from the machine. She gazed at Miku again. "Huh- oh, sorry. It's just weird that you jumped onto Gumi like that."

"She seems cool." Miku shrugged. "And I'm not letting that maggot touch her."

Yukari sighed, while Lily snorted. "He knows better than that."

"Gumi probably realizes that he's a creep." Lily snapped. "Not even a random stranger would touch him with a ruler."

Miku answered a text on her cellphone; she slid it back into her purse. "I'm going to the bathroom. I've been holding in my pee all day." She whined.

"Don't forget to powder your face."

Miku rolled her eyes and offered Lily the finger before she strutted away. Miku turned the corner, and Yukari groaned loudly while she ripped a piece of her cake roll off with her fingers.

"When she's trying to befriend someone just because she's afraid they're going to get along with Len, that's when you know that she's messed up in the noggin." Yukari popped the piece of cake into her mouth, chewed, and tapped her forehead.

Lily shrugged while she turned on her own cellphone. "She just doesn't want to lose anyone to him. I can't blame her; She was really close to Rin, and y'know, it's still hard for her. You don't remember when Miku had to see someone for her nightmares?"

"Yeah, but it's getting obsessive. It's only been day two, and she's already saying crap like 'Gumi's quiet and shy, just like Rin was! She has the brains that Rin had!' She's already throwing her own expectations on her."

Lily shrugged again.

Yukari fumed. "That doesn't bother you?" She huffed as she bit into her pastry.

"Miku isn't that obsessed about Rin. She only made that one comparison. Even if she can annoying, she's been through a lot." Lily snapped. "You only dislike Miku because of her laugh."

"God, it'd make Satan go deaf." Yukari mocked Miku's laugh. "Tee-hee, tee-hee!"

Lily failed to hold back a smirk; it quickly faded when she heard the light footsteps, and mouth to Yukari to keep her mouth shut. Yukari grinned cheekily before her face fell into her habitually bored disposition.

"Has it been twenty minutes yet?" Miku asked from down the hallway.

"Almost." Yukari answered. "We should just head back to the classroom now."

Miku turned around and walked to the staircase, her feet bouncing eagerly upon the floor. Yukari sighed and quickly cast Lily a mischievous smile. "Let's go, Gentle Giant."

"Shut the fuck up, Yukari."

* * *

"Gumi, time is up!"

Gumi held the completed paper up in the air, yawning while covering her mouth. "I finished."

Yukari snorted. "There was a pre-calc question on there, too."

"It wasn't that difficult." Gumi shrugged.

Yukari took the paper, with her eyes scanning it over repeatedly. She took out the crumbled answer key from her shirt pocket, and gaped. "She got every single one right."

"No fucking way." Lily took the paper, compared of with the answer key, then grinned. "Not even Kaito got the whole sheet right. He didn't even get half the sheet correct."

Gumi felt her face warm exponentially at the sudden attention, and she quickly began downplaying her abilities. "I couldn't have gotten the whole thing right if Kaito didn't do that well…"

"No, we have to show Gakupo this! I'll be right back." Yukari snatched the papers from Lily and ran for the door.

"Is he on the blacktop?" Miku asked.

"What else does he do before wrestling practice?" Yukari rolled her eyes at the answer still unknown to Gumi. "I'll be back."

Yukari sped off, while Miku praised Gumi. "How long did it take you?"

"I only had about two minutes left. I literally finished on the dot, to be honest. I'm still a bit rusty."

"Rusty?" Lily screeched with disbelief. Gumi backed away from her. "You're a wizard."

"N-no, my dad just taught me tricks and stuff. I sort of have a knack for math, but not really." She did, but Gumi didn't want to brag, especially with the magnitudes of appraisal she was receiving from the two girls at once.

"I think you and Gakupo will get along! He's an ace at math. I think you actually might be a bit better than him, too." Miku whispered. "Well, then again, maybe not, because Gakupo is a pompous-"

Lily abruptly cut Miku off. "Gakupo, provided that his jealousy won't eat him up first, probably will accept you into our club. Do you have any experience with tutoring?"

"I-I use to help my younger brother," Gumi said, "if that even counts. It's really not that big of a deal."

"Any experience helps. They're here." Lily hopped over to the door, with Yukari waltzing in.

"Gumi," Yukari said, "this is Gakupo."

Gumi went to stand up to greet Gakupo, but instead, she sat frozen in her chair, her eyes falling onto the tall boy, with purple hair of length comparable to Lily's. She stared into his eyes, the same eyes that glimpsed at her before he nailed his fist into Len's face. Gakupo walked towards her; Gumi's shoulders twitched nervously.

"She got all of them right?" The tall boy asked gruffly. He snatched the papers from her; Gumi winced. "I didn't even get them all right on my first try."

"I had the answer sheet with me the whole time," Yukari said.

Gakupo stared at Yukari as if she was mentally deficient. "You didn't take her cellphone? She could have cheated."

Gumi scowled with dismay while Miku began to rummage through her purse. "Oh, I have it!" Miku chirped. She grabbed Gumi's cellphone from out of the black leather bag and waved it in the air, then tossing it back to Gumi.

Gakupo pursed his own lips and sighed. "Yeah, fine, she can join." He stared at Gumi, and Gumi set her eyes to the floor. "Tomorrow night, you're tutoring Gacha. He's a seventh year student."

"S-sure."

"That was it?" Gakupo asked boredly.

"Kaito dropped out, so that's why we got Gumi, to replace him," Yukari said.

"Lazy prick." Gakupo muttered. Miku's lips curled downwards.

"I'm out." Gakupo grunted and swung his bag over his shoulder and opened the door.

Miku strutted after him. "Nice chat." Miku retorted. "It wouldn't kill you to stay for a few more minutes to get organized? We have to prepare a new folder for Gumi so she has all the assignments for Gacha, since Kaito probably threw his out by now. Not that he ever brought the folder with him to meetings. I really have to kick his-"

Gakupo snorted. "I have shit to do."

"Fine." Miku sighed. "Good luck with your match," She said, making sure she sounded insincere.

Gakupo walked out the door. Miku's lips formed a tight line. "He's such a prick. Why does he have to be the male head? Kaito would have been a better captain."

"Your boyfriend just quit the club." Yukari deadpanned.

"Yeah, I know, I meant to make a statement."

"Gumi, are you alright?"

Yukari looked at Lily, occupied with Gumi's distress.

"Gumi?" Miku blinked, snapping out of her frustration, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Uh...I'm fine." Gumi rubbed her eyes. Her heart banged inside of her chest wildly as if it wanted to free itself from her rib cage. She was convinced that she had just stared into the eyes of a beast. "I'm fine. Let's just make my folder and get it done?"

"Oh, that'll be fun…" Miku giggled nervously. "Uh, do you have an extra binder by any chance? Like, a big one?"

"Erm…I might have one at home?"

Within moments, Miku threw a large stack of papers on the desk in front of Gumi.

"These are all the assignments for Gacha until his tutoring session is up."

"…do we get paid for this?" Gumi asked hopefully.

Miku, Yukari, and Lily laughed.

"We wish." Lily snorted in between her laughter.

Gumi groaned and hid her red face behind the large stack of papers.

* * *

"Oh, good, you joined a club."

Gumi nodded, momentarily halting the conversation to slurp her noodles up from her bowl. She put her chopsticks down and wiped the corner of her mouth with her cotton napkin while she looked at her mother. "Yeah. It's for tutoring younger kids and stuff. I'm teaching a kid some math after school tomorrow."

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Gumi's mother smiled wearily, with exhaustion tugging from underneath her red eyes once filled with passion. Yet, that was only from a time that seemed too distant for the woman dressed in scrubs to remember. She turned her head to her son's direction. "How was your day hun?"

Piko shrugged and picked at his rice, separating each strand of rice from the steamed vegetables. The mother sighed and focused on her own food until the phone rang. She muttered an explicative from under her breath, jumped from the table weakly and rushed to the kitchen.

"Hello? Yes, this is Haku…"

Gumi listened to her distant mother's voice. She focused on the raggedy tone that was imbedded in the waver of her voice as she stared at her small dinner, avoiding Piko's interrogating gaze with all of her strength. Gumi herself couldn't be bothered by her younger brother's pettiness. She jumped at a sudden slam. Within moments, her mother appeared in the dining room, folding herself in a light jacket.

"I have to go back."

"It's alright, mom." Gumi smiled reluctantly. "Be careful."

"Don't be silly, Gumi, I'll be fine." She kissed Gumi's head, than Piko's. "Make sure you both finish eating."

"We will!"

"Gumi, Piko, I'm _really_ sorry-"

"Mom, it's okay. I'll take care of everything, it's the least I can do."

Haku sighed, staring at her only daughter guiltily. She turned to Piko before walking out the front door. "Please be good for Gumi?"'

"Whatever."

Haku ran her hand through her gray locks, casting Piko a sad stare before grabbing her purse and rushing out the door. Gumi clenched her fist, spinning around to chide her brother. "Seriously, Piko?"

Piko shrugged. He picked up his plate carelessly as he stood up from the table.

"You're going to finish eating-"

Piko let his dish fall into the sink and walked off. Gumi quickly peeked into the sink to make sure the plate was still intact, and then let herself be fueled by her held back anger.

"This is getting ridiculous, Piko!"

She heard the door slam from upstairs. Gumi held up her fingers and clenched them mid-air, as if to choke someone, but soon enough she let her hands rest at her sides again. Her fingers trembled at the vibration in her pocket. She reached for her cellphone and blinked.

"Hi." It read.

"Who is this?" Gumi wrote back. She had begun to clean up Piko's discarded meal from the sink when she received the reply.

"Lily."

Gumi raised an eyebrow. "Who gave you my number?"

"Uh, Miku? You gave it to her?"

Shit, that's right, Gumi sighed mentally at the memory. Miku hounded her for her number during her first day until Gumi finally gave in. She knew that distributing her number wasn't going to bring any good. She felt her personal space shrink within moments. "Oh, ok. What's up then?"

She finished washing Piko's dish when she heard her phone dance on the marble counter.

"Miku just wanted me to tell you that you don't need to be scared of Gakupo. He's just a jerk, that's all."

Gumi frowned. "Why didn't she tell me herself?"

She picked up her bowl and attempted to finish her meal, so at least her mother's efforts didn't go to waste.

"She had some stuff to do, and I guess she wanted more support regarding that Gakupo is a 'brainless idiot', putting it in her words."

Gumi tapped her lips as she read the message. She typed back quickly, "He seemed smart, though. He's just…intimidating."

Gumi forced down the rest of her dinner. She poked at her leftover carrots and decided to send another message. "Can I ask you something?"

_Bzzzzzz._

"Don't let him scare you; he's just like that because he's the 'alpha male' or whatever guys call themselves to make themselves seem better. And sure, shoot."

Gumi let her thumbs hover the keypad before she typed her message. "What's up with Len? Miku has a grudge against him, too. Does she just hate all guys in general?"

Gumi made her way from the table to the sink again, now washing the dishes. She occupied herself by watching the suds slink down fingers. When she finished drying the last of the forks, she realized that there was no buzz from Lily.

'Shit, I shouldn't have asked." Gumi groaned and tugged at a strand of her hair. She twirled the same strand, tugging and pulling with her thin forefinger until she felt the vibration. Gumi hesitantly held out her phone before reading the message.

"Ok, well, Miku kinda has a right to hate him. You really should know, I'm surprised no one told you yet. Miku doesn't like talking about it, though, and no one else does, either. Can I just tell you before school tomorrow? I debated texting the whole story to you, but I think if I do that, my thumbs will fall off."

Gumi sighed. "Sure."

"'K, thanks. See you tomorrow."

Gumi slid her phone into her back pocket and blew her disappointment out through her nostrils. She didn't like to be kept waiting, and she was tempted to ask Lily if she could just tell her now, but if this boy caused enough trouble to everyone, was it worth it to make Lily upset? Gumi didn't want to cause trouble, either, and she already caused enough of it on a regular basis.

Gumi looked at the time and emitted another annoyed sigh. She had homework to do, too.

* * *

**Okay this was a filler I'm so sorry… and you get a cliffhanger, too. CLIFFHANGERS FOR EVERYONE.**

**But from the time I wrote the first chapter to now, I packed for Spain, flew there, and am now in my dorm, and I've been settled in for about a week, but I had to buy supplies/food/remove the mold from my dorm's washing machine and so on. My sleep schedule is still off ;3; The next chapter will be much more exciting because it will be I promiiiissssseeee ;-; Buh-bye for now- and thanks to all who've reviewed the story so far! I appreciate the support! /w\ **


	3. Part 1, Ch 3

**I decided to write this up before I have to do my literal pile of homework. Enjoy.**

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?"

Gumi frowned at hearing her name. She thought she was the only soul alive in the hallways at this hour (Lily never specified how early Gumi needed to arrive to school, much to her chagrin). She turned on her toes to face the bland-faced girl. Gumi ruffled her hair and tightened her lips, shrugging.

"Do you have morning lab, too?" Yukari asked with genuine surprise.

"No," Gumi said defeatedly. She leaned back on the heels of her feet. "I'm just here to see someone."

"Who?" Yukari tugged her ponytail free and began to retie it.

Gumi hesitated for only half a second. "A teacher. I want to show Sakine-sensei if I did the English homework correctly. What are you up to?"

"Taking a break. Chem is such a drag." Yukari sighed with a yawn, letting her ponytail swing slightly towards her left. "But I need to this class. It'll look good on applications for high school, y'know?"

"Right." Gumi couldn't even focus her homework; High school wasn't a thought in her mind. Gumi licked her lips as she stood next to the water fountain, watching Yukari take a sip from the nozzle. "I saw a kid get beat up the other day."

"Really, who?" Yukari whipped her head around at Gumi with wide eyes. "Who fought?"

"Uh...so the guy I met yesterday- G-Gakupo. Yeah, I almost forgot his name, jeez, my bad. It was him and some other guys..."

Gumi saw Yukari's face sullen and her eyes glaze over with boredom. "Oh?"

"Y-yeah." Gumi wiped the sweat off of her hands, feeling guilty for lying in the first place to get a second opinion, then feeling like a colossal nuisance for causing Yukari to become so disinterested. "I'm boring you."

"Nah, go on, I just know who you're talking about."

Gumi tensed. "About that boy who was beaten up?"

"Yeah. Don't bother tattling on Gakupo and the others, unless you want everyone to hate you."

"I wouldn't try. Why, though?" Gumi stared into Yukari's eyes anxiously. "Gakupo was seriously hurting that kid."

"No one likes Len. He brings in onto himself for being a creep. Also, to be blunt, Gakupo has a lot of influence in this school. Even Miku knows that, even if she thinks he's the biggest dick on Earth."

"He's that popular? Really?"

"His parents donate a shit ton of money to this school every year. A lot, from what I've heard. Ranges from six million to seven million yen a year, that's what I hear."

"Then I really shouldn't be surprised." Gumi let out an astonished mutter. "Damn, that's a lot of money."

"And Dell's dad is the police chief of this town."

"Who's Dell?"

"Silver-haired guy. You'll see him beating up Len, too." Yukari yawned nonchalantly.

Gumi sucked in her cheeks with uncertainty. "Why do they have a vendetta against Len?"

"I think you mean this: Why does _everyone_ think he needs to rot in hell?" Yukari snorted. "It's a long stor-"

"Yukari, Kiyoteru-sensei is going to mark you down if you're not back to class in thirty seconds!" A voice shrieked from down the hallway.

Yukari sighed and twisted her head around. "I'm coming, Mayu! Fuck, she just doesn't want to do the lab assignment on her own. Ugh, lazy girl..."

Gumi began to step away from Yukari. "I'll get going then. I'll ask Lily."

"Nah, I have time."

"No, I don't want to give you a bad grade," Gumi said urgently. "I'll see you later."

"But, it's fine-!"

"Bye!"

Gumi scurried behind the corner before Yukari could call her back. Yukari frowned and began to retie the strings of her lab apron, muttering under her breath. "She's a wreck..." Yukari cringed when she heard her voice being screeched down the hallway again.

"Damnit, I'm coming, Mayu!"

* * *

"Meet me on the blacktop," The message said.

"Oi, now you tell me." Gumi grumbled to her phone. She peered out of the window one last time, gazing at the blacktop as she etched a few students trickle in through the entrance. Gumi hurried down to the first floor again, her heart fluttering around her chest, anxious as to what the story Lily wanted to tell her entailed.

'Maybe it's just a joke? Not everyone can hate one student. Everyone had friends back in Okinawa..." Gumi fastened her sweater around her before she walked out into the chill of the fall weather. Gumi dug her hands into the sleeves of her sweater and shivered slightly, walking around in search of Lily.

"Over here."

Gumi saw Lily wave her hands while she leaned back against the wall some feet away. Gumi ran over.

"You haven't been waiting too long, I hope?" Lily asked.

"I had to see a teacher anyway about homework." Gumi shrugged, the green strands of her hair rubbing against her shoulders, making sure to keep up with her little white lie.

"Ah, okay." Lily took out her cellphone and began to text. Gumi leaned against the wall, waiting for Lily to talk to her.

"Just give me a minute. Question, though: your brother is Piko, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Gumi forced her chapped lips to smile. She rubbed her cold cheeks to heat them with her palms. "If he's ever too obnoxious, let me know."

Lily chuckled. "Nah, he's a cool dude."

Gumi sputtered. "You think so?"

"Yeah! He's pretty funny. Ahaha, sibling rivalry. Do you think he's a dork just because you're the older sibling?"

"No, he's just 'mischievous', and I'm using that world loosely."

"Ah, I'm sure he's a good kid. Cut him some slack, _Gum_." Lily grinned and elbowed Gumi. "Can I call you that?"

"N-no."

Lily frowned at Gumi's harsh, yet unsteady, answer. "Sorry."

"Nah, I just hate nicknames. I shouldn't have snapped at you anyway." Gumi groaned at her minor social error and covered her mouth with her fingers loosely. "I don't know when to keep my big mouth shut."

"You have a big mouth?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

"It's troublesome."

"Doubtful. Miku has the biggest mouth, but don't tell anyone I said that." Lily giggled and tapped her index finger secretively against her pale lips. "Okay, I think we stalled long enough." She dropped her phone into her schoolbag and turned to look at Gumi straight in the eyes. "Let me tell you some rules, though: First, you don't talk to people about this because this 'event'-I guess I call it that, is sort of taboo to talk about. This still upsets people, especially Miku. It even upsets Gakupo, the guy who didn't cry at all when we had to watch _Grave of the Fireflies_ during history class. Okay, anyway, just don't repeat this story unless you're asked, or else you'll depress and anger everyone."

Gumi directed her eyes to her left, watching a few students stroll in through the gate, averting her tired pupils from Lily's vibrant eyes. "O-okay."

"Two, don't talk to Len. Ever. He's a psychopath. Huge nutcase. He didn't get put into a ward because even the people there didn't want him. Let me cut to the third part, though: You have to show up to Rin's memorial service every year, or else everyone will think you're a heartless prick."

"Who's Rin?"

"What? Seriously? Not even Miku told you about Rin?" Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised. Rin was Len's twin sister."

"How did she die?"

"No, just let me tell you the background and everything first. Sorry, I'm just figuring out how to condense this." Lily rubbed her lips together, concentrating on the ground while she thought for a minute before she began speaking quietly. "So, there was Miku and me. We didn't meet Yukari until the beginning of junior high. Anyway, around our first few years of primary school, we became really good friends with Rin. She was the nicest, just...really nice, she didn't gossip of anything. She just went with the flow of everything. She was smart and won probably every single science fair ever, but she didn't put people down for being not as smart as her, unlike other people here. She liked everyone, and even if someone didn't like her -and I'm pretty sure that only person was Len- they knew that she wouldn't push them away, and that she'd never judge them. And Rin didn't have an easy life: she lived in an orphanage until she was like, six or seven, and she always felt pressured to be perfect, y'know? But Miku, she and I were best friends, and we were always there for her.

"And you would think her brother would support her, too, but he was just a jealous cunt."

Gumi raised her eyebrows at Lily's unrestricted coarse language.

"He's a heinous bastard, and I'll never forgive him for what he did to Rin." Lily gritted her teeth. "He expected the same treatment Rin received, even though he was a strange and just off-putting kit. He was constantly following around to her, glued to her like a tick on a puppy. Rin tried to defend him, saying that he didn't like to be left alone, but she eventually got tired of it, and we couldn't blame her; Rin had to enjoy life on her terms, and Len was just being a nuisance. I can't understand why Rin was so good to him. Because of the fact that Rin was a sweetheart, Len took advantage of her. I remember on her birthday-"

"Wouldn't it be Len's birthday, too?" Gumi interjected.

"It was her birthday _party_. Just for her. Miku and I threw a surprise party for her...at least, it was supposed to be. Miku opened her damn mouth to Rin about the party a week beforehand. I wanted to strangle her! Anyway, we didn't anticipate Rin to bring that **maggot**, but she did, because she was too good for her own good. Sometime later, she was outside in the backyard, crying. It was winter, and all this poor girl had on her was a sweater. Miku and I came outside to console her. We got Rin to talk, and she basically said how Len was being mean to her. He said a lot of cruel shit to her. That ungrateful prick made her so upset, and we never saw Rin so upset before, y'know?"

Lily folded her hands into her sweater, gazing at Gumi grimly. "I went after Len the next day at school and told him to knock the shit off. I got the others to go after him, too, for Rin's sake. He didn't listen, and Rin only let him fly around her like a wasp. So then, a few months later..."

Lily shuddered, gazing up at the sky, the whites of her eyes beginning to glisten. "There was a camping trip. For students, y'know? An end-of-the-year school thing. We were...nine. Ten. Something like that. I shared a room with Miku, Lily, and a few other girls. We all went out for s'mores because why not, right? We were camping. No one had to fear anything, because we were young and we didn't think that we had to worry about stuff like that." Lily trembled. "But Rin wasn't feeling good. She went to bed early. Miku and I begged her to come and hang out, but she wasn't feeling it. When we said goodbye to Rin before leaving the cabin, that was the last time we saw her alive." Lily gulped hesitantly.

"It was late and everyone was eating s'mores. Suddenly a bunch of kids come down the hill, shrieking. Literally just shrieking, as if they'd seen a ghost. No one knew what they were screaming about until people stared to smell smoke. Within minutes, firefighters appeared and police cars had begun to swarm around the campsite. I didn't know what was happened when all of us were dragged into the dining area. Soon enough, I found out that the cabin had caught on fire."

Gumi sucked in a breath, her eyes steady on the ground. She forced her eyes to meet Lily's, freezing when she saw the tall, confident girl turn into a sudden shell of herself, hunched over with glassy eyes.

"I just...started screaming about Rin. Miku ran to the cabin when I told her. I ran after her because I wanted her to stay in the cabin. I was afraid she would try to save Rin from the fire, and I didn't want to lose Miku. By the time I caught up, Miku was just standing there, not even making a sound. I started to shake her, screaming at her for being so stupid, but she wasn't even fazed by my voice. She just kept staring at the white body bag lying a few feet a-away."

"Hey, is everything ok? Hey?"

Gumi's shoulders hitched at the new voice. She turned to face a taller boy, his face filled with concern for Lily. Lily wiped her eyes, with remnants of her mascara smearing around her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I look like a damn raccoon right now." Lily muttered.

"Hey, it's okay. Are you alright?" The boy asked.

"Shit, yeah, I'm fine. Look, I just need a few minutes to myself. I was telling Gumi-," Lily looked at Gumi for a brief moment, "about Rin."

Yohio swallowed, his Adam's apple quivering slightly. He began to pat Lily's shoulder. "It's okay. Go get some water."

"Yeah. Look, Gumi, I'm sorry. I couldn't burden Miku to tell the story. She...she saw Rin's burnt corpse and everything. Miku wasn't even fazed that she lost a stuffed animal, which her grandmother gave her before she died, in the fire. It's hard for her to come to terms with it today. I guess the same goes for me, too. Len fucked up our lives, that fucking son of a-" Lily's voice began to rise.

"Lily, c'mon, get a drink." Yohio urged.

Lily nodded and closed her eyes, biting her lip in attempt to keep the tears from falling. "Alright."

Gumi rubbed the back of her head nervously while Lily rushed away, her shoulders slouched and her confident strut now reduced to a slow walk. Gumi glanced at Yohio guiltily. "I'm really sorry. I didn't have any idea that this would upset her so much."

"What? Hey, that's not your fault." Yohio shook his head. "You're that new girl, right?"

"Y-yeah. Nakajima Gumi."

"Yohio." He leaned back against the wall with Gumi. "Someone had to tell you the story. I'm surprised Lily told you. She tried not to let it bother her, but...she was really disturbed after Rin's death. Her and Miku were just shells of themselves for a while."

"That really sucks. I mean, shit, I'm probably sounding really insensitive right now, but that really sucks." Gumi tugged at the ends of the sleeves of her sweater, attempting to envelope her fingers into the sleeves.

"It does. It wasn't fair that Rin had to get her life stolen by that goddamn freak, either."

"Who did set the cabin on fire?" Gumi's eyes went blank, and then she buried her face into her hands. "I sounded like an idiot; it was Len, yeah?"

"Spot on." Yohio gazed at the blacktop grimly. "They found matches in the little fuck's pocket. He just lit it up and scrambled away from the fire. Little coward tried to escape until he was confronted by the police, after Gakupo- do you know him yet?"

"Yes, I met him."

"Gakupo told the police that he saw Len staring at the window before running off. He stole the matches from Dell...Dell, you've seen him yet?"

"I've heard of him."

"So, as it goes, that spiteful little bitch burned his own sister to the ground, along with Lily, Miku and a lot of other girl's stuff. Needless to say, this caused a lot of chaos in Kahiru for a while. Everyone wanted that freak's blood on their hands. When he was found not guilty, it was almost unbelievable. I still can't fucking believe it."

"He was actually found not guilty?" Gumi gaped.

"He wouldn't be in school if the judge said otherwise. I'm convinced that he's the reincarnation of the devil. He's just a little bitch, and nothing more than that. He doesn't even deserve a name. Last time I checked, monsters didn't have names." Yohio breathed out through his nose harshly and dug his hands into his pockets. "Just stay away from him. It's good that you know to keep away from him now so that he doesn't try to take advantage of you. If he tries to, though, let me know, and I'll take care of it."

Gumi's eyes dilated. She saw his thick dark blonde hairs sway back and forth as he took the time punting Len's gut alongside with Gakupo, circled around Len viciously, like vultures waiting for their prey to keel over.

"O-okay." Gumi replied shakily, her mind still reeling over the torment she saw Yohio committing against the spited boy.

Yohio took notice of Gumi's paled face. "Did the story finally get to you?"

Gumi nodded tensely. "Should we check on Lily?"

"Here she comes now." Yohio lifted his head to save over to Lily. "Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah." Lily, with her eyes now clear and her makeup restored, nodded. "Thanks."

"I explained everything to her. Just take it easy, 'k?"

"I will." Yohio squeezed Lily's elbow comfortingly, and she smiled.

"I'll catch you later too, yeah?" Yohio leaned over to take Gumi's elbow. She allowed him, yet tensed up when he squeezed. He didn't take notice, and walked off after saying his farewells.

"Ah, shit, class is going to start in a few." Lily sighed as she glanced at the time on her cellphone. "Wanna head up?"

"Sure." Gumi nodded passively. She began to walk up the stairs with Lily. She clutched the straps of her backpack nervously.

"I won't press you anymore about Rin, but...why wasn't Len found guilty? If they had evidence-"

"He's the devil." Lily replied hoarsely. "He's Lucifer's child. He'll receive his punishment one day, and, in case Hell doesn't really exist, then I'll make sure that he gets what he deserves." Lily stared ahead of her, her eyes unmoving, colder than Gumi's frigid fingers. Her feet clapped heavily against the floor.

Gumi nodded. "I don't blame you," Gumi said.

Although, she still had trouble believing what she had heard. Gumi sighed as she walked into her classroom, her mind juggling over the matter, even after her lessons had begun. Gumi stared out the window, contemplating her decisions.

'_He'd have to be in jail if they found the evidence right in his pocket. Maybe he had a good lawyer? Maybe he had rich parents? No, Lily said Rin lived in an orphanage, so it's safe to assume that Len did so, too, since their twins and all, but Lily said Rin was adopted, so the same with Len. Maybe he did have rich 'adopted' parents that tried to cover up Rin's death? But if he has rich parents, why wouldn't he just move away from Kahiru, away from his bullies? This is too complicated for my brain._' Gumi rubbed her temples. _'I'll just try to find newspaper articles online, hopefully it'll be a bit less unbiased._' Gumi cringed when she recalled Len's empty eyes and blood-streaked face.

_'There's something that isn't right about this, but I can't betray Lily and Miku by trying to prove Len is 'not guilty', and that sounds impossible itself. I'd only cause problems anyway. You're not a detective, Gumi, just stop, you'll make everything worse. If he is a psychopathic killer, though,_' Gumi frowned grimly, '_I really should stay away if I don't want my throat slit open. God, me and my stupid ideas. I really am too naive. For a suppose murderer, though, he's done a good job not killing Gakupo and Yohio yet._'

* * *

"And that's all there is to it!"

Gumi let out a relieved sigh when she saw her student's eyes light up, as if he had finally grasped the probability problem that she had just spent ten minutes teaching him. Suddenly, the lights in his eyes dimmed.

"I still don't get it."

Gumi almost lost her patience until Gacha began to sputter.

"I-I just don't understand why you would get one-twelfth. Seriously, it's driving me nuts."

"All you have to do is subtract this number from that number." Gumi circled the two numbers neatly. Gacha nodded.

"O-okay, I guess. How do I know when to subtract them, though?"

'_But I just explained it._' Gumi sobbed mentally. A light sound rang around the two students. Gumi glanced at her watched and nearly cheered.

"It's six!"

"That's the answer?"

"N-no." Gumi nearly smacked herself over the boy's limited intelligence (okay, she admitted, she felt guilty for thinking that. The kid was nice, after all.) "It's six o'clock, meaning that the session is technically over."

"C-can you at least explain when you need to subtract the numbers?" Gacha begged.

Gumi sighed to herself, yet quickly grasped the pencil from behind her ear and began to scramble the sharp lead on the paper. "You subtract when both fractions have the same denominator. That's how you get one-twelfth. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah! Okay, I think so."

"Make sure you finish that sheet for next week. Yukari claims that you have a track record of not doing your assignments, hmm?"

"That's not my fault; I have other stuff to do."

"Well, you won't get into that prestigious university in Tokyo if you don't start working on it."

The kid grunted unhappily and began to shove his book and papers into his backpack. Gumi frowned at the crinkled papers jutting out from his backpack. "There's a thing called 'folders', Gacha, they're very useful." She almost applauded herself for the comment until she felt bad. "Er, sorry, you just need to be a bit more organized. Ha, now I probably offended you..." Gumi trailed off nervously. Yukari would be pissed if she lost another student because of her mouth.

"Nah, I really need to get this stuff together." The boy sighed. "Haha, you seriously reminded me of Piko for a second. You're pretty funny yourself."

"Oh, that's right, you're in the same grade as him." Gumi permitted an annoyed sweat-drop to appear on her forehead.

"Yeah, he's pretty chill."

"He hasn't done anything bad yet?" Gumi raised an eyebrow, asking her question aloud.

"No. Why, was he a bad kid at your old school?"

"No. Just, y'know, at home we have our normal sibling quarrels at home."

"I wish I had a younger brother," Gacha remarked dreamily. "I'd teach him everything I know."

"Haha, trust me, you don't, because you'd get tired of his bullshit very quickly." Gumi patted the naïve boy's head with a smile. "I'll see you next week."

"Bye, Gumi!"

Gumi smiled, and giggled under her breath as Gacha scampered off. She picked up the leftover papers on the desk and began to stack them together. "Such a dolt." Gumi then smacked herself for the comment.

'_You're such a bitch._' Gumi closed her eyes briefly, and then finished filing the papers. _'You don't know when to shut your mouth. It's the reason why your family is broken up and ripped to shreds. Keep your opinions to yourself, because no one cares anyway._' Gumi's tired eyes fluttered to the scissors left on the folder.

'_You stupid fool, are you going to do_ that _again?_'

Gumi hastily shoved the scissors into her pencil case and threw the small bag into her backpack. She shoved her folder into her backpack and began to wrap herself in her jacket to prepare herself against the rough winds. She whistled dully, grasping the straps of her backpack tightly once she finished buttoning her coat. She turned to the doorway, only to be confronted several feet away with the boy with the once bloody face and jarring black eyes.

Gumi gasped to herself and stared at the boy blankly, a million thoughts racing through her mind, unsure of whether to speak or shriek; stay put or stay away; to continue staring at him blankly or to blind herself with the sun's rays emerging from the window next to her, to pretend that she never saw him. However, she only found herself, within the twenty seconds of being confronted with him, staring at the new and old scars on his face; observing black marks that seemed permanently stained around his eyes; studying his uneven hair, choppier than the waves of the ocean during a chaotic storm. The only thing that hadn't changed about him were his eyes that screamed for release.

Gumi knew she couldn't do anything about that. She turned away and walked through the exit that opened into the hallways, and then she ran, just in case the things she heard about him were true, yet it seemed that she had already believed them.

* * *

"_Another fifty percent! Good for you, _Gaijin_!_"

He winced at the snarky remark made earlier to him when the class received their recent tests, as the students gloated over him. If only he could escape from them, a feat that was clinging on the possibility of him having high enough grades to graduate. He was clinging on in his other subjects, but he was sure that his teacher was purposely making math, his worse subject, difficult for him. After all, why would the school want their scapegoat to graduate? They needed someone to take their stress out on.

"_It's a shame that he doesn't have the brains his sister has._"

"_He doesn't seem to have much potential._"

"_What a disappointment_."

"_A waste of space._"

He grimaced. Even when he was young boy, the same remarks were repeated over and over behind his back and in front of his face by unsympathetic adults, the same ones who only saved the cherishing for his twin sister. He clenched the handle to the door of the library, his broken fingernails tapping against the metal, attempting to come up with any thought is encouragement.

"_Such a fucking idiot. You shouldn't have never been born. If it wasn't for you, Rin would be alive. Your parents would be alive too if it wasn't for you, you selfish brat, you ungrateful fucking piece of-_"

He had none. But, no, he wasn't a fucking idiot; there was some encouragement in that thought. He couldn't afford to be an idiot at this moment, anyway. It was hopeless, though, even if he didn't want to believe it. The only person who could have helped him darted away from him as soon as possible.

"_Is Gumi teaching Gacha in the library at four?_"

"_Yeah. Honestly, I'm glad Gumi took her place, she's amazing at math!_"

"_Ugh, shush for a second. _He's_ here._"

Within moments, Yukari and Miku were staring at him with astonishing incrimination.

"_Shoo_, Gaijin." Miku hissed. "_Nobody wants you here, psycho._"

He ran off to return to his class, and despite his sudden absence, Miku continued loudly proclaiming her disgust for him.

"_Fucking maggot._"

Despite the verbal abuse, he had some hope that maybe he could receive some help for once. He shouldn't have been surprised that rumors about him had already filled this new girl's head. He wasn't surprised, honestly. He'd just have to find time to teach himself, if he could even manage to do that. He was fucked.

Len let go of the handle and walked away, his back hunched. He was surprised that he felt something different than the usual exhaustion that was always implanted in him: fear had spread into his mind and had slid down his throat. The dread leaked into his stomach, churning over the unpleasant possibility of being stuck in Kahiru for the rest of his life.

* * *

She ran all the way home, running all the way into her room (after reassuring herself multiple times that she had locked the front door.) She panted heavily, her red cheeks begging for oxygen. Her trembling fingers grabbed her laptop from her desk and flipped the cover open, her orange nail polish asking who that boy was and what he actually did to deserve such acute judgment. She only found the same thing that confirmed the rumors: That the authorities found him red-handed; that he was found not guilty, after two long years of trials and interrogations; that the girl that everyone loved was truly dead, with everyone agreeing that her flame was blown out too soon (How ironic.); and the anger of the twin boy's freedom which was still contained within the citizens today. It read exactly as it was told.

Gumi rubbed her eyes wearily. The only helpful information was what she found from an article detailing the twins' lives, where she had discovered that both twins grew up in an adoption agency, with Rin being the only twin adopted. The consensus of Len being jealous of Rin was deemed a worthy excuse to the citizens as to why Len killed the one who shared his own flesh and blood. It only discouraged Gumi that interviews with students claimed that Len was antisocial, brooding, and quiet, _too quiet_. One interview was actually with Miku. She caught a few lines that surprised her:

**Q**: _Could you ever forgive Len for the crime he committed against your best friend?_  
**Miku**: [Frowns tersely, yet nods] _Yes. I think that once he spends time thinking over what he did, he'll feel guilty._

**Q**: _If Len was found not guilty, would you be fine with seeing him again in school?_  
**Miku**: [Shames her head] _No, I couldn't. Even if he does feel guilty for what he did, I wouldn't want to be in the same room with him. He scares me._

Gumi shivered. The interview was performed right before Len's ruling, taking place when Miku had to be around eleven years old. She could no longer blame Miku for being somewhat neurotic. Gumi rubbed her hands together before she began to type again, but blinked and stared at the bright screen. What else could she ask? Everything was deemed true. No one had been lying to her at all.

_'And you thought you could prove that Len was innocent? You're a dumbass, Gumi._'

Gumi clenched her hands and jumped with shock when she realized she had been investigating this issue for too long, upon realizing that it was ten at night. She hadn't even touched her backpack, not even when she came barreling into her house from school. Gumi lifted her bag up and attempted to start her homework, yet her eyes grew heavy against her will. Ten mathematics problems later, and her pencil was hanging lethargically between her fingers as Gumi rested her head against her desk, her eyes closed unwittingly.

* * *

_'Gum, Gum, Gum?'_

_Gumi spun around a few times, looking for her father, unable to see him. "Dad? I can't see you."_

_"Whoops, I'm sorry."_

_Gumi noticed the black loud speakers come into view as the speakers seeped through the white wall, becoming ingrained into the surface._

_"I'm in my office, dear. Come and see me, please."_

_Gumi looked at the white walls with surprise. "Y-yeah, sure, dad. I thought you were dead, though?" Gumi asked quizzically. __She saw the door in front of her and she walked to it without hesitation, yet the door seemed to far from her reach._

_"My soul is still existent, Gumi, even if souls seem illogical. If it wasn't for my soul, I wouldn't be here."_

_"Dad, dad, can you stop the door from moving? I can't reach it." Gumi huffed as the door stayed in place while Gumi ran as fast as she can, her legs beginning to throb due to her exertion the day before._

_"Gumi, it'll take a while before you can reach me again."_

_"Why?" Gumi halted quickly, gasping hopelessly at the door. "Dad? Is this my punishment? I'm_ _sorry." Gumi began to cry without warning. "God, what's wrong with me? I'm being too blunt or too emotional. Why am I acting like this This is a dream, isn't it?"_

_"It's okay, Gumi, this isn't your fault. You just need to do me a favor, if you want to free yourself from this dream." __The loud speakers began to melt into the wall and the door disappeared._

_Gumi hiccuped. __"What is it?"_

"_Turn around._"

Gumi heard the voice behind her. Now in control of her actions, Gumi excitedly suddenly spun around, eager to see her father's tired, wrinkled eyes and warm smile again. Instead, she was introduced to irises filled with sapphire and skin paler than a pearl, with blonde hair unsuccessfully trying to touch er bare shoulders, the strands of gold just within reach of the smooth, silky skin, with her bleach white dress hovering inches above the floor. Gumi, completely entranced by the young girl's beauty, realized that the girl had to be around her age, as she stood eye to eye with her. Gumi stared into the girl's irises, still in her stupor, until the girl opened her mouth with a small grin.

"If you want to see him again, you'll have to listen to me."

Gumi shivered at the girl's velvet-smooth voice. "S-sure."

"You must salvage my brother from experiencing a life worse than the souls of those that roam for eternity in the deepest pits of hell."

Gumi faint scent of vanilla wafted collected in Gumi's nostrils. "And who's he?"

The girl smiled, almost amused by the green haired girl's oblivion. "Kagamine Len."

Gumi's beautiful haze was cut short, snapped in half like a twig. Now in complete control over her mind and no longer under the influence of the accursed vanilla scent, she offered the dead girl a disturbed expression, wishing that she hadn't let herself fall into this trap.

Rin could only giggle at Gumi's gaping mouth. "What? You didn't see the similarity?"

* * *

**WHO NEEDS SLEEP WHEN YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT ANGSTY TEENAGERS, RIGHT!? /SOBS IT'S TWO IN THE MORNING IN SPAIN, PEOPLE, I'VE LOST CONTROL OF MY LIFE.**

**Len's life is literally a big smack in the face. That's a good way to put it, right? And it's only going to get shittier for him /Is mean-spirited**

**So, for reference:**

**1) Five million yen is…a lot in American dollars. $50,000, I think it was? I couldn't find info on Japanese parents donating shit tons of money to their kid's school. Idk how that works. Also:**

**2) There are two types of 'high schools' in Japan: a 'lower' and an 'upper' high school. I explained it back in chapter one. Apparently you can sort of call it middle school? But it's better to call it junior high, I believe. ****God I'm so tired I tried****….but you have to apply to upper high schools and get accepted. In my school, some students took early-morning labs before school started at 8:15. I don't know if this exists in Japan, either? I would think so, though? ****Sorry Japan ****But yeah, if you don't get into upper high school in Japan, you're fucked. A good comparison is if you don't graduate high school in the U.S., you're fucked with having any kind of job prospects. Hence why Len is knee-deep in shit: he doesn't have the grades to get into any upper high schools near him.**

**3) Orphanages in Japan are not very good. I'll leave it at that. And, also, some of you may be wondering what _Gaijin_ means. Feel free to look it up. If you're still confused as to why students call him _Gaijin, _I'll eventually explain it.**

**Thank you for reading. Please, leave reviews! I'd like to hear people's opinions! C: (****I know some of you are lurking, I can feel it)**** See you soon~! /.3./**


	4. Part 1, Ch 4

**Thanks to all who have reviewed/like/favorited! There's a buttload of author's notes under the cut, too, so stick around, please –v-**

"God, you're...you're kidding me..." Gumi ran her thin fingers through her hair, gazing at the ground with shock. She tugged at a loose knot in her hair while her baggy eyes stared at the floor, a shade (whiter) than a blank canvas.

"Only in your dreams, Gumi," The girl replied.

"Wha- how do you know my name? Seriously, what is going on?" Gumi begged, backing away from Rin, feeling as if she'd be attacked at any moment. "What are you?" She shook her head, unable to comprehend the situation she had been confronted with. "Okay, you know what? This is a dream, but now that my subconscious knows that this is a dream, I should be awake, right? That's how dreams work." She began chewing on her lip as her anxiety increased. "M-maybe pinching myself will help…" Gumi squeezed the skin on her arm and yelped loudly.

"I think you need to sit before everything you become faint."

Gumi gasped as her behind smashed into the seat that appeared behind her. Her shoulder blades knocked into the back of the wooden chair. She cringed with pain.

"Fuck, that's going to bruise." Gumi groaned. She sat up weakly in the (white) chair and stared curiously at the (white) table covered with a (white) embroidered cloth. Her eyes widened at the array of sweets that appeared within her grasp, the table topped with several pastries and delicacies, some of which Gumi had never had the chance to taste before: Carrot cake topped off with fresh cream cheese, oozing delicately down the sides of the cake; vanilla crème cupcakes coated with edible golden glitter, the flakes of gold reflecting off of Gumi's eyes as they stood in front of her, all perched upon a three-tier silver stand; brownies, all a dark chocolate hue, were finely sprinkled with (white) powdered sugar; disks of chocolate chip cookies sitting on one another, held together by their gooey chocolate pieces; and truffles of different kinds, seemingly shipped from Belgium, littered the table. All baked goods and sweets were arranged around a clear vase filled with freshly picked lillies. Gumi's stomach nearly caved in when she remembered that she hadn't eaten dinner. She went to cut herself a slice of carrot cake but immediately pulled her hand away, her conscious reminding her of her naïve personality.

"Ah, go ahead! Eat!"

Gumi kept her hands in her lap, tugging at her fingers to keep them occupied. "N-no, I wouldn't want to stain your tablecloth." She licked her lips unconsciously. "I'm not that hungry."

Rin sighed reluctantly. "Alright, then. Some tea, at least?"

Gumi nodded and held out her (white) porcelain tea cup, holding it steady while Rin walked over and poured her the drink. Gumi watched the streams of water vapor floating lazily from the cup. Gumi thanked Rin quietly and sipped her tea. Gumi's eyes widened when the flowery taste hit her tongue; jasmine tea, just the kind she would drink in Okinawa, right before she'd head for school. Gumi slowly sipped more of the tea eagerly.

"Better?"

"U-uh, yeah, thanks." Gumi bowed her head. She rubbed her lips together nervously, feeling for the marks from when she ferociously chewed on her lips earlier (that certainly wouldn't help the chaffing, she reminded herself.) "I really don't mean to be rude, but could you please tell me what's going on?"

"Going on with what? My brother? Me? The weather? There are a lot of things going on in the world today. It's daytime in America right now, there's a lot going on there. Would you like to talk about America?" Rin sat down in her chair and picked up her teacup.

Gumi huffed. She wasn't in any mood to be joked with. "I meant about Len, and you, and where the hell I am? Can you at least tell me if this is a dream?" Gumi extended her neck to look at Rin, her view being obscured by the vase of lilies sitting in front of her.

"Not really." Rin sipped her tea. "I simply just phased into your body, took your soul, and brought it with me. We're in a little domain meant for spirits here, just a few kilometers under the Earth's surface. It's pretty lovely, I think, but not as brilliant as Heaven is." Rin noticed Gumi struggling to see her. She put the vase off to the side while Gumi sat in her chair with shock.

"...e-excuse me?" Gumi squeaked. Her body went cold, the warmth of her face leaving her as her cheeks turned white. Her fingers began to tremble. "So I'm _dead_? Y-you-"

Rin giggled. "Of course not. Your body is still snug in bed. Well, actually, you are asleep on your desk. But, when we are finished, your soul can return peacefully to your body."

Gumi stirred in her seat. "Um, g-great." Gumi stared at her pale hands nervously, watching the color return to them slowly.

"It is a lot to take in, is it not? Pardon me." Rin rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, her blonde strands sticking up from behind her head. Rin gently fixed her hair and began tugging at the (white) bow angled on the right side of her skull. "And forgive me if I speak too formally. It's become a habit, especially after becoming acquaintances with spirits of the past."

"I think it's quaint." The corner' of Gumi lips quirked upwards. "I can talk fancy, too."

"Well, we must really pace ourselves with this conversation. Let's stop mucking around to discuss the importance of my interjection." Rin tapped her delicate lips with her (white) napkin. "Well, over the past few years after my death, I've been conflicted. When I deceased, I lamented over the matter of how my brother had the lack of heart to burn me during my sleep. I could not believe that he would be capable of putting me through that much pain. Then, I came to realize, once I calmed myself from my tensions, that he did not set me aflame."

"Aflame? Like, you mean that Len _didn't_ set you on fire?" A grin slowly broke out over Gumi's face. "Fuck yeah, I knew it!" Gumi eagerly stood up from the table and pumped a fist into the air. Rin sat patiently in her chair, amused with Gumi's excitement.

"Your moods are very unpredictable."

"Sorry." Gumi said, her face flushed with embarrassment. She sat down again and fingered the tablecloth, waiting for her face to cool down. "If Len didn't kill you, who did?"

"I'm not permitted to share that information with those who are not deceased. It will interfere with the lives of those who are alive, especially if it is a big mystery that hasn't been resolved among the living."

"Why?" Gumi frowned, disappointed. "Wait, why are you even talking to me? Can't you just help Len directly, since you're on Earth right now?"

"Len does not believe in anything ethereal, or anything regarding ghosts and spirits and all of that 'nonsense', as he used to put it. If I appeared, he would believe that he was going mad. Considering how life is going for him at this moment, it wouldn't be fair for me to stress him any longer. Neither can I trust the rest of the populace in Kahiru; I've only seen the people treat him with disgust, as if he is gum on the curb of a sidewalk." Rin grimaced. "Up until now, I couldn't step foot on Earth at all, even if I wanted to; once you die, you stay in the three outer-worldly existences chosen by God, or, you may request to become a ghost on Earth and roam around beneath the Earth. Yet, that is a very lonely existence, and I chose to become a spirit of God. However, with His permission, I could retrieve your soul, provided that I turn myself into a ghost, which I did. Angels are too pure to even lay a toe on Earth."

Gumi scratched behind her ear. "But, okay- I'm sorry to interrupt..."

"No, feeling free to ask about any inquiries you may have."

"Can't you banish Len's harassers to Hell or something? If you can drag my soul out from my body-"

Rin sighed glumly, pushing her tea plate away from her. "Again, I do not have that kind of power on Earth to just make people vanish, unless God permits it. It took a month just to convince The Lord Himself to permit me to help Len with your aid. Once I saw you, I knew that I could rely on you to help my brother."

"God sounds like a hard-ass." Gumi muttered under her breath (If that comment didn't send her to Hell, then she didn't know what else would.) "And how would you know if I can help Len?"

"I know everything about the past and present. Only God knows about the future. The future cannot look too good for Len, though, if I can base it off of his life at this moment." Rin's face fell sullen. "The only choices for the future would be to let him suffer, or for me to intervene and pull him out of Kahiru. I am risking my status as an angel to help my brother, but since no one else is going to help him, it is up to us."

"Shit, so I'm literally his only hope?" Gumi raised her eyebrow, wondering how her predicament could be so trite, yet grave, simultaneously. (Although, Gumi admitted, this wasn't as banal as the tales of a boy saving his damsel in distress from either monsters or an unattractive suitor, whisking her away to safety. There were just too many stories like that.)

"Well, besides me, yes."

Gumi pursed her lips, rolling the fabric of her skirt into the palms of her hands, her mood taking a different turn over the outcome of this conversation. "I don't think it's a good idea to let me try to even talk to him. Seriously. I think I'll make his life ten times worse-"

"If that was the case, I wouldn't have chosen you to help Len. I would have attempted to assist him myself, but that's next to impossible."

Gumi shifted her eyes to the floor, tugging at her navy blue skirt with uncertainty. "I really won't be much help. It was stupid of me to think that I could help him in the first place."

"Len needs as much aid as he can get. I assure you that if you do as a say, all will go smoothly."

"...promise?"

Rin suddenly restrained herself, her mouth closing just as quickly as she opened it. "I'll make sure."

"No, look, all I want is a promise." Gumi pleaded. "At 'least' promise me that I won't be tortured, beaten, or murdered? I don't want any of that to happen to me," Gumi prodded herself in the chest, looking at Rin earnestly, "nor do I want all of that to happen to me all at the same time."

Rin's face brightened. "I can promise you that, just as long as you follow my advice."

"Thank God." Gumi's shoulders eased and she slouched in her chair. She shut her eyes momentarily, as the different shades of (white) began to blind her. Her eyes fluttered open when Gumi remembered another question. "What about your murderer, though? Wouldn't you want me to do something about him?"

"Let me reassure you that my murderer is none of my concern at the moment. As long as Len is freed from the bonds of his oppressors, my killer will no longer be an issue to me or Len." Rin smiled and shrugged. "I'm not even upset any longer that I've been killed; In Heaven, everyone is at peace. I have forgiven my murderer for everything long ago except for tormenting Len endlessly." Rin sat up and began to fix the silver earring that had latched onto a strand of her hair. "Besides, my murderer go to hell for having my blood on their hands- that is, once my murderer kicks the bucket. Yet, it is not fair for my brother to have to suffer consequences for a crime he didn't commit. It is not fair that I may enjoy the spoils of the afterlife while he is stuck living in such pitiful conditions."

Gumi nodded, agreeing with Rin immensely. She paused to gaze at the sweets with temptation, but paid her attention back to Rin. "Heaven sounds strict, though."

"Well, yes, but nothing too strict. In Heaven we are meant to enjoy ourselves for the rest of eternity. You would be surprised by how easy-going Heaven is. After a week of being dead, you'd wonder what was so great about being on Earth in the first place. Some of the saints here are very friendly. Saint John delivers some killer serves when we play volleyball." Rin looked on suddenly at her floral teapot with fret, concentrating on the purple irises and the pinkish chrysanthemums closely, as if she was checking to see if any of the paint had chipped off. "At least I hope I can return to Heaven to play volleyball again. I sincerely miss it."

Gumi was inattentive to Rin's murmur. "That's not strange at all." Gumi snorted at the thought of Saint John the Baptist in his robes, spiking a volleyball right in front of Jesus's feet. She shrugged. "Well, Heaven sounds like a blast. Wait, did you just say _killer_? That doesn't sound very quaint." Gumi giggled.

Rin suddenly frowned angrily and pulled at her hair, her cheeks now a ruby red. "Urgh, I was so close!" She wailed.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"No, no! I can talk very nicely! I ruined it. Oi, so much for looking angelic." Rin sighed with lamentation and slouched in her chair. "It was pointless anyway, since I won't be an angel again for a while."

"Wait, so you can speak like a normal teenager?" Gumi narrowed her eyes. "You were just acting like a young lady to put on airs? Speaking like a normal person would have made things so much easier!" She bellowed.

"...it would have." Rin giggled. "I had to keep up my image."

"Well, you only increased my inferiority complex."

"Sorry." Rin grinned. "Maybe a pastry will make you feel better?"

"Er, yeah, well, I don't want to stain your tablecloth." Gumi frowned. She herself felt like a smudge of paint when she compared herself to the cream colored walls and swan-(white) floor.

"We do have washing machines in Heaven." Rin raised an eyebrow, and then pressed her lips together. "Actually, they're more or less for show, considering that we can get rid of stains with the snap of our fingers. God just wants Heaven to look a bit more modern these days, to keep up with the demands of the newly deceased. Oh, geez, I keep forgetting that I'm not in Heaven anymore." Rin smacked herself on the head. "I'm sure ghosts have bleach or something down here. Don't sweat it if you spill a crumb or something."

Gumi frowned, eyeing the pure (white) cloth. One crumb would surely ruin the crotchet tablecloth, but Gumi's restraint popped. "Alright, then." Gumi reached over for a cupcake eagerly. Her teeth barely scraped the icing when Rin began talking again.

"My brother likes to read, and after I make sure those Gakupo and his friends don't harm him badly." Rin frowned at the thought of Gakupo, gazing at the table pensively for all but a moment, seeming disappointed, but her content smile returned at the thought of her brother. "Sometimes, I watch Len rest and read until he goes home. I saw you at the library," She admitted, " and I can't blame you for avoiding him, because you were only taking caution; but now, you can exercise less anxiety around him, now that you know that Len is not a 'psychopath'."

Gumi guiltily set her unscathed cupcake back onto her porcelain plate. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

"I can see that you want to help him. I'm willing to let you see your father again if you help my brother graduate from junior high. He's been having a rough time with math lately, from all the algebra textbooks I've been watching him skim through these past few weeks. All you would need to do is tutor him, make sure he graduates, and that is all, to ensure that he has a chance of escaping Kahiru. Don't bother trying to convince anyone that my brother is not guilty, because, frankly, no one will listen to you, especially since you're only the 'new girl'. It's just better to give him his freedom rather than cause an uproar. When you give my brother his freedom, then The Lord will give you permission to see your father, and then, I can return to Heaven."

Gumi felt her heart race at that possibility, but it only fell again as it collapsed with worry. "But what if I mess up?"

"I said I'd help you."

"Yeah, but what if I still screw up? Will you be able to go back to Heaven if I fuck up?"

"Are you doubting my abilities?" Rin pouted.

"N-no! You see-"

The soft giggle approached Gumi's ears again. "You get so flustered! It's cute. However, you need to focus on yourself, too; If you don't have the confidence to help my brother, then that tells me about your confidence in your abilities, too. You really need to work on your self-esteem."

Gumi rolled her eyes. "My self-esteem is fine."

Rin sighed with doubt and her light pink lips settle into a frown. "However, there is a slight, er, 'catch' to this." Rin whispered nervously, her voice tensing. "I have temporarily given up my wings to become a ghost, in order to help Len and to contact you. The Lord was kind enough to give me a few months on Earth. However, if I don't succeed with helping my brother within that time span, then..." Rin glanced up at Gumi sheepishly, "I'm stuck as a ghost on Earth forever. After all the years I've spent enjoying Heaven, I really can't let you opt out of this deal," Rin said meekly. "So, I have no choice but to keep you here and badger you until you agree."

Gumi looked at Rin as if she was a deer watching oncoming headlights, as something in her mind snapped, her brain breaking like a glass vase. "I've only been in school for- one, two, three-" Gumi counted on her fingers, then held up the correct amount of appendages, "-three days starting today, and now, in addition to homework, clubs, and managing my social life, I have to do this? I don't even get a choice?! Wait, and you died at eight, nine? How do you look older?"

"I never said that you _had_ to help." Rin pushed her chair back and got up. She skimmed her bare feet against the floor before walking around the table, watching Gumi as she circled around her. "I'm just going to convince you until you say yes. You have to remember that we can't live off of these sweets forever." Rin smiled bitterly. "Gumi, please understand, I really don't want to be stuck on Earth. Earth sucks, honestly, and I'm sorry that you were the only hope for my brother. I would have helped my brother by myself in a heartbeat, but besides the fact that my brother doesn't believe in ghosts, if a human sees me on Earth, with you as the only exception, then my contract with God will be void."

"It would have helped if you mentioned all of that earlier!" Gumi shouted angrily.

"Heaven is an interesting place, really! It's my home, too. Please, let me show you how nice it is. Let me convince you: Anyone can be any age they want to be."

Suddenly, Rin disappeared. Gumi quickly hopped out of her seat and scrambled to look for the dead girl, only to find her within half a second to be less than half of her original height, with larger eyes and cherubic cheeks.

"See? This was me when I was five." The squeaky voice announced.

Gumi snorted and then giggled, no longer angered but now amused by the girl's appearance and began to wonder why she was taking this little spirit seriously. "You look like a doll."

Rin pouted again. "I do not! Ugh, six." Rin grew slightly, her dress growing with her.

"Seven." She sprouted up again. Gumi looked on with interest.

"Eight." She grew by a few more inches. Her large eyes remained and her cheeks retained its pinkish glow. Rin smiled, still doll-like in appearance. Her smile slowly faded, and her lips fell into a sad line.

"Nine."

Gumi watched Rin's body unravel as if she was watching a horror film; she watched Rin's pale skin shrivel and choke, all of her muscles blackening and shrinking until the dead skin clung to her charcoal bones. Her hair sizzled and burned, the scent of the dead hair choking Gumi's lungs without warning, and all of the once golden locks disintegrated into thin ash. Gumi only wished that she hadn't looked into the girl's face; it melted. That was the only way Gumi could describe it, as the whites of Rin's eyes melted and trickled down her hardened cheek bones as her flesh flaked away. Her dribbling eyeballs melted like candle wax, traveling all the way downward to the burnt, crinkled pieces of her flesh, ending at her lips, which were no longer pink and plump but seared to nothingness, exposing her grey teeth and burnt gums.

Gumi collapsed to the floor and heaved and heaved until she thought she had vomited up her stomach. She shivered repeatedly, threatening to spill digested food from her mouth again until she felt something stroke her back. Gumi fell over, narrowly avoiding her puddle of vomit, shielding her face until Rin pulled Gumi's fingers away from her eyes, allowing her to feel the sensation of her long, soft fingers and smooth skin. Rin smiled sadly.

"I don't like being nine. I still like to have birthdays, so I'll always be the same age as Len until he deceases. He's fourteen, and so am I." Rin finally noticed the sour smell emitting from the mushed liquid on the floor. "I'll clean that up later."

Gumi felt herself be placed back into the chair, dizzily allowing herself to slip into the seat. Gumi wiped her mouth with her napkin, smearing an ugly beige color against the once pure (white) napkin. She sighed tiredly, shut her eyes and attempted to shut out the memory of Rin's melting flesh.

Within minutes, Rin had the vomit removed. "See? No big deal." Rin wiped her hands on a rag as she set a bucket aside. Rin sat in front of Gumi again, with a smile plastered on her face, yet her eyes twinkled out of remorse.

Gumi's eyes twitched open. Gumi groaned quietly, then nodded solemnly. "I'll help you if you agree to never to do that again. Ever."

Rin smiled sympathetically, yet bounced on the back of her heels eagerly, internally celebrating the success of coercing Gumi into her plan. "Of course! You're making the right decision, Gumi."

"There's one more thing I want, though."

"What's that?"

Gumi grunted and leaned over the table. From there, she quietly slid the plate of carrot cake to her. "I get to take this home." Her stomach growled with agreement.

"Hmm, I don't know." Rin tapped her well-polished fingernail against her chin thoughtfully, smiling deviously. "That cake is to _die_ for. No, seriously, you have to die in order to eat the food made from Heaven; it's kind of the rule. I convinced some of the angels to transport me some goods. The chocolate here in this world just doesn't cut it. It must suck for the ghosts that live here." She smiled happily at the array of pastries, plucking a (white) chocolate truffle from the table and welcoming the sweet flavor into her mouth.

"I think I've experienced enough morbidity for today." Gumi rubbed her eyes. "Er, tonight. Whatever time it is now, I guess."

"I'll leave you be for today. The only thing you need to do now is try to talk to him, at least just once, and then we can discuss how that went."

"Do I still get to bring the cake-"

* * *

Gumi thrashed against her desk and opened her eyes widely. She had just felt as if she was falling, falling off of her chair and into a dark pit, slipping away into eternity. Fortunately, that wasn't the case; Gumi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though she had narrowly escaped death.

"Shit, what a nightmare." Gumi gazed at the digital clock across from her with her bloodshot eyes, sighing pleasantly when she saw she had a few hours to herself to calm her nerves. Gumi wrapped her arms around her head and groaned.

_'That was a nightmare, a complete nightmare. I can't believe my brain managed to conjure something like that up. I don't even know what Rin looked like, but my brain managed to recreate her, somehow. I really am losing my mind._' Gumi lifted her head up and then her upper body. She cracked her back and groaned.

'_I'm so stupid for sleeping here_-'

Her mind became quiet when she saw a cake coated cream cheese icing sitting right in front of her. Gumi nearly screamed, but mouth hung open in the shape of a large circle instead.

'_My brain is just sleep deprived. This isn't possible..._'

She touched the cake, only to achieve a small coating of frosting on her fingers. She pressed her fingers together, rubbing the greasy icing back and forth while she looked on with incredulity.

'_I think I just need to sleep. Bed, now. Bed._'

Gumi stumbled out of her chair, abandoning her homework and the fresh cake for her soft comforter and fluffy pillow. Gumi face-planted her head into her pillow and let her brain push the snooze button, abandoning reality as quickly as she could.

* * *

"I want a mommy and daddy, Len."

The ensuing tears made Len frown sadly. He lifted up his small hands and soaked up the tears off of Rin's rubbery face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Don't cry, Rin. It makes me sad, too."

"I-I can't help it." She sniffled and sniveled repeatedly, with sobs getting caught in between.

"Rin, stop, please. You'll wake the director up." Len frowned at the thought. "Shush, Rin!"

Rin hiccuped. "Read me a broooook," She whined, tears bolting down her face and falling onto her blanket.

Len sighed. "It's called a 'book', Rin." He leaped down from their bed and he crouched onto the floor, his eyes greeting the bookshelf. He quickly searched for a story that would soothe his sister. "Cinderella?"

"That's dumb!" Rin cried.

Len frowned and shoved the girl and her glass slippers back into the shelf, annoyed with his sister's frivolous behavior and the fact that he had been woken up in the middle of the night again. He briskly pulled out a different book. He held the book up to her sister, covering his face. "Goldilocks?" He recommended.

Rin blinked curiously, and then nodded slowly, clutching her pillow while she sniffled repeatedly. Len hastily climbed back onto the bed and threw the book onto his lap. He took the blanket and covered Rin with the soft fabric.

"Can I start?" He asked.

She nodded. Len began to read slowly, letting his voice permeate through Rin's ears gently. He carefully read each word, unwilling to foul up on the pronunciation and risk another tantrum from Rin, who was now calmly sucking on her thumb. Len gently pulled his weary sister's hand from out of her mouth while he detailed all of the chairs that Goldilocks tried to sit in.

"And it fit juuust right." Len smiled to himself, expanding the vowel just like Luka did whenever she read the story to him. His smile turned into a grimace when he ended up with some of Rin's saliva on the unfortunate hand that had tried to force his sister's thumb from out of her mouth. Len rubbed his hand try against the blanket to dry his fingers.

"Len?" A small voice uttered.

Len realized that he had paused for too long. "Sorry, Rin."

"It's 'kay, Len. I don't wanna hear about Goldilocks anymore."

Len nodded and set the book at the end of the bed. He settled down and let Rin take his arm. She curled next to him while staring at the patterns on his shirt.

"Why doesn't anybody want us, Len?"

"That's not true."

"B-but we've been here for a long time."

Len stared at the ceiling, unable to ignore that truth. "Yeah."

"That means that nobody wants us."

Rin's voice wavered and Len immediately tried to soothe her. "Rin, everybody wants you."

"Then why don't they bring me to their home?" Rin offered her brother her downtrodden eyes, threatening to spill tears all over her pillow again. "The director says all the time that I'll be adopted one day, but that day still isn't here."

Len sighed hesitantly. "That's the problem: everybody wants _you_, not me."

"What do you mean?"

The young boy stalled for a few moments, lacing a finger nervously around a loose thread on their blanket. "The director doesn't like me, and neither do the adults." Len mumbled while he tugged at the corner of the blanket, concentrating on its stitching. "The director wants the mommies and daddies to adopt us as a package, like a box. The parents get all happy to see you, but when they see me, they just change their minds. You can't have parents because of me." Len rubbed at his eyes and set them on the same corner of the blanket, too ashamed to look at his sister. "But, because everyone wants you, if they just take you, I'll be left here forever, and then the director will be angry. It's my fault, Rin. I'm sorry."

Rin studied her brother's shirt as she let his words sink in. She shook her head. "But Len, we've always been a deal." She curled up closer to her brother. She smiled sadly while she hiccuped. "Maybe nobody wants twins?"

"Nobody wants me because I get sick all the time." Len stared at the box of tissues on the small dresser next to the bed and sighed. "It took me days to get over that dumb cold. And, because I'm sick, no one wants to play with me, and then everyone thinks I'm not a fun person."

"But you're the funnest person ever, Len!" Rin cried with disbelief. "They just don't know what they're missing."

Len shrugged. Rin frowned and hugged her brother tightly.

"I'd rather live here then get taken away without you. Twins can't get taken away from each other. Who else is going to teach me how to tie my shoes?"

Len smiled at his sister's loyalty. They both embraced each other, and then snuggled under the blankets for the final time before settling into sleep. The moonlight radiated through the window, highlighting the clock left on their dresser, its hearty tick unknowingly becoming weaker every day, as its alkaline heart slowly lost its strength.

* * *

Gumi awoke to the distant sound of chirping, with sunlight creeping in through the window blinds, reaching out to cast its glow onto the girl's face. Gumi dug the discharge out of the corners of her eyes and began to contemplate buying a sleeping mask to combat the sun's painful rays. She gazed at the clock, groaning when she realized that she hadn't done any of her homework and still had to be in school in an hour. She sat up, and suddenly remembered the dream.

_'How do I even know what Rin or Len looked like as kids? Why is this happening? When did my dreams become so…melancholic? But that nightmare...that wasn't real. At all. Maybe I saw a picture of them or something on the internet and I forgot_ _about_-'

Then she remembered the cake. Slowly, she twisted her head to glance at her desk, only to find the cake sitting right on top of her homework, its icing gleaming in all of its tantalizing glory. Gumi, despite the quick thumping of her heart, rolled out of bed and approached the cake, slinking to her desk carefully. Now, instead of just the cake, there was a vanilla scented letter laying on her desk, too. She gently picked up the small letter and, after gulping down the knot stuck in her throat, opened it. She made her way back to her bed as her stomach rolled around uneasily.

_Yeah, sorry, you weren't dreaming, except when I transferred the memory of Len and I into your conscious (weren't we so cute?!). I won't leave you 'completely' out of the dark as to why everything is like it is today, okay? Just some details are classified- boooo, right? See you soon!_

_Rin_

Gumi didn't scream or throw a fit; she was too exhausted and panicked to say one word. Gumi sat on the edge of her bed, and stared emptily from Rin's perfect cursive to the dull beige shade of her wall. Her lips lay parted; begging to ask _why_, yet her tongue couldn't formulate an intact sentence. Finally, Gumi thought of the only thing that could make sense in her current situation:

"I'm fucked."

Gumi thought about the situation and began to realize the assortment of questions she still had for Rin: About her parents, about her adoption, what she thought about Miku and her old friends, and about the students torturing Len...all questions that would have to be answered at a later time, and there was no guarantee that they would be answered, either. She scratched her scalp and sighed with disappointment, slowly becoming angrier at all the things she could of asked, yet was too shaken up to even bother recalling. If she had to, she barely would have had the confidence to ask Rin to use the bathroom (did ghosts ever need to pee, though? Did they have bathrooms in Rin's world?). Gumi stared at the cake and glared at it.

"This is your fault, and you're going to pay for it."

* * *

Piko only offered his sister a weird stare when he saw her, still dressed in her pajamas, digging a fork into a cake- a w_hole_ cake, to be precise. Gumi felt his stare and looked up at him, shrugging casually at his permanent frown.

"It's carrot cake. It has more vegetables in it than you've eaten in your lifetime."

Piko grabbed an apple from off the kitchen counter and walked away. Gumi couldn't have cared less about her brother's indifference; her carrot cake was too good to ignore. It actually was one of the best carrot cakes Gumi had ever eaten. At least _something_ good came out of her difficult situation, and it seemed that her cake would be the only pleasant thing to come for a while.

* * *

END PART 1

* * *

**sdjal college, guys, college. It's been a busy week, and I'm going to France on Monday for a school trip and I don't have enough time to write and sob (#FirstWorldProblems...)**

**I think this is turning out to be a pattern with this story: one exciting chapter, one boring chapter, the next exciting, and the next mundane…this is by no means exciting. This chapter was definitely stressful to write because I wasn't sure how to flesh out Rin's personality. She's definitely somewhat conniving, but she loves her brother. I definitely didn't want her to be all OMG KAWAII DESU because a lot of people here like to make her like that :I Hopefully I didn't offend anyone when I had Gumi call God a hardass and when Rin claimed Saint John was killer at volleyball. I mean, who doesn't like volleyball? And being the ruler of Heaven can't be easy either.**

**And sibling memories! I have a twin, so you would think having a twin would help me write cute sibling moments, but we were never touchy-feely with each other when we were younger, but I guess I wouldn't remember (except my parents told me when we were babies they couldn't put us in the same crib because I'd kick my brother's head...oops) But, yeah, just a reminder: there's no twincest. Nada. Nope. Don't expect it because ew**

**The next part/chapter will definitely have Len and Gumi interacting. That will be interesting, no? And don't expect Len to come crawling to Gumi's feet for help, because nopenopenope, Len will not be like that.**

**PLEASE leave replies! I thank everyone who has replied/liked/favorite the story so far! But please, let me know if you don't like how the story is going because I don't want this to be boring. I know there are some stragglers out there who are perhaps too shy to leave a reply (bc I'm like that too haha...), but I'm sure you guys have **_**something**_** to say about this fic, no? And on that story stats thing, _Scorned_ got a buttload of views...(so hopefully no one is just reading my story just to make fun of my horrendous writing? ;;;;w;;;;)**

**And to all that want this to be Gumi/Len…be patient. Relationships take time to form .w. So, yeah, I'll see you all soon~ /w\**


	5. Part 2, Ch 1

**Ahhhhhahaha sorry for the delay. Thank you to all who have faved/favorite/reviewed this story!**

* * *

Part Two

* * *

It had been over a week, and Gumi still couldn't look him in the eyes.

It wasn't like she hadn't had many opportunities, either; She'd only seen him after school on the blacktop, like always, getting whacked around by Gakupo and his posse, and that wasn't a good time to go up to him and ask, "So, how's life?" It wasn't going to work like that. In fact, Gumi wasn't sure _how_ to approach him. They were two completely different people: She was the socially awkward new girl, while he was a rumored sociopath sister-killer who was spited by everyone. At least the sister-killer rumor could be debunked, yet Gumi didn't know anything about his personality. Rin hadn't helped her with that. The only thing she could muster from the dream the week beforehand was that Len could read and that he was subpar at math, hence why Rin wanted her to tutor him.

That information still didn't help. If anything, all of that proved that Gumi and Len didn't have much in common.

Gumi tapped the cover of her notebook, staring at the shelves of books in front of her with concern. It wasn't like she didn't try to help him; she at least watched him on the blacktop and made sure that he wasn't beaten to death by Gakupo and his friends. The only thing that made her stop going was when Gakupo caught glimpse of her through the window on Wednesday. Forget that purple was supposed to be a soothing color- Gakupo's vibrant eyes sent her a vague warning, sending Gumi off immediately, his dangerous irises doing all of the work for him. It aggravated Gumi that let herself become a shaky mess just because of a pair of eyes, but running into trouble with the wealthiest and most highly respected student wouldn't do her any good. She couldn't create suspicion.

"Hey, Gumi? I finished."

Gumi gazed at the short boy sitting next to her. Gacha offered a hopeful stare.

"I think I did really well this time!"

Gumi took his practice sheet and gazed at the sheet, comparing the answers with the answer key. Her eyebrows rose with each correct answer.

"Wow, not bad." Gumi circled the correct number of questions on top of the paper with her pencil. "Only three wrong."

"Yes!" Gacha pumped his fist into the air. "I told you that I've been studying."

"You definitely proved yourself today. Just make sure you actually study for the tests."

Gacha frowned sourly. "I would have gotten a higher score on my math test the other day if it wasn't just filled with all of the hard questions, I swear. I would have done worse if I haven't been tutoring with you, though."

"I'm flattered." Gumi grinned. She handed Gacha his paper back. "Study, okay?"

"Alright." Gacha sighed reluctantly. "I'll study just for you."

Gumi put her hand over her heart and exaggerated her smile. "I'm honored."

Gacha stood up as he unzipped his backpack and took out a folder. Gumi gasped.

"Oh my God! Ladies and gentlemen, Gacha has just bought his first folder! Let's give him an applause."

Gumi clapped her hands and giggled while Gacha snorted while holding back a smile. He slid his paper into the green folder. "You're happy?"

"Very." Gumi smiled as she flicked her hair back.

Gacha hoisted his backpack over his shoulder. "You're definitely better at tutoring than Gakupo or Kaito, from what I'm getting at. I thought you were gonna be a nag, but you're a lot more chill than Gakupo is."

"Well, thanks." Gumi huffed, feeling slightly insulted at being thought of as a nag, but then her eyes widened with surprise. "I'm not that shocked about Kaito, but Gakupo probably has three times the brainpower than I do."

"He may be smart, but he's also, er, a prick. One of the kids in my grade refuses to go to tutoring here because Gakupo called him an idiot for not knowing the square root of like, a thousand and two, something stupid like that. I mean, I like him as a person in general, and he's been through crap as a kid, but he looks down on people who he deems aren't smart enough for him- which is weird, considering some of the guys he hangs around with don't have much to show."

"Childhood problems?" Gumi looked at Gacha curiously.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"He crushed pretty hard on Kagamine Rin in primary school. You at least know who she was?"

"Yes, I've heard." Gumi sighed.

'_I also had the pleasure of seeing her burnt corpse, too._'

"Yeah, and she died before he was able to confess to her. It still bothers him, I think. He says he never had feelings like that for her, but they were pretty close as kids, from what the older kids tell me."

"Well, that sucks." Gumi frowned.

"Gakupo's kind of a cold person, but he's a nice guy once he warms up to you, as long as you're respectful to him. You can't blame him for hating _Gaijin's_\- er, Len's guts. Then again, everyone hates him." Gacha shrugged. "He's a psycho. I heard that he kept a diary of all the things he wanted to do to Rin. Like, I heard that he wanted to chop her up and deliver her body parts to Gakupo's house."

"Jesus." Gumi shook her head, but only did so due to being unconvinced rather than being mortified by Gacha's remark. Gacha mistook the shaking of her head for the latter, though.

"He's crazy. I don't know how Gakupo is brave enough to even touch Len, since he beats him up all the time after school, but it keeps the _Gaijin_ in his place. It's enough to prevent him from going on another killing spree."

"R-right." Gumi nodded. "People just suck. I-I mean Len, not Gakupo."

"It's pretty instinctive to not like murderers, I'm pretty sure." Gacha handed Gumi a highlighter. "Thanks for letting me borrow this, too."

"Yeah, no prob. See you next Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend, but-"

"Study! I know." Gacha groaned. "I have a life, too!"

"Alright, alright." Gumi relented. "Don't slack off, though."

"See ya!"

The green haired boy scurried off, leaving Gumi to herself, which, at the present moment, wasn't a good thing.

'_This school is fucking nuts._' Gumi let her arms hang by her sides as she slammed her head against the desk. She winced. "Ow."

Gumi stayed in place, rummaging through her mind to pick up the pieces from her earlier conversation with Gacha.

'_So Gakupo thinks that Len killed his childhood sweetheart? And beating Len up like a dog is supposed to put him in his place? Yeah, there's _nothing _wrong with that logic. I didn't think it was possible for so many people to hate someone so much..._'

Gumi began to dwell over an article she read online a few years ago, about a pedophile whose grave was routinely desecrated and vandalized by his victims and the townspeople. He was a twenty-something year old who worked at a day-care facility who lured young girls into his 'secret play room', until a father came in late one day to pick his daughter up, and saw the pedophile performing vulgar acts on her, acts vulgar enough to make the devil recoil. The father killed the pedophile with his bare hands, if Gumi could recall correctly. Yes, she remembered; the father choked the man to death and bludgeoned his head with building blocks. Considering she found the story on the Internet on some weird online forum (It was on a vague yet controversial news website. Gumi still cannot understand how, from this day, she managed to go from watching cute cat videos online to landing on _that_ website), it probably wasn't true, unless the pictures she saw of someone's destroyed grave site belonged to someone else. Gumi always assumed that the pedophile was the most hated person to have ever existed, up until she heard Kagamine Len's name. At least the pedophile was hated for a good reason. The pedophile was thrown in a hole, covered with dirt, and given a grimy gravestone, ending his 'proper' burial. Gumi wondered how the townspeople would go about burying Len. Judging from how even the teachers looked at him, they'd probably leave his corpse out in a field for the vultures to consume.

Gumi heard the library door slam shut and she assumed it was the librarian. It was silly for any other student to come into the library at this hour; the library closed around seven. After all, the librarian had a life, too. Gumi sighed and sat up; she had studying to do herself. Homework was on her schedule, too, and showering belonged somewhere on that growing list. Eating was mixed in too, but Gumi still swore that some of the carrot cake she binged on mornings ago was still sitting in her stomach.

Gumi gathered her belongings and prepared to depart, wrapping herself in her heavier winter coat. November had arrived (Halloween had been celebrated, but Gumi couldn't be bothered to acknowledge the holiday's existence during a school week. She didn't mind spending the night giving kids candy while she stuffed her face with Hershey kisses, though), and the heavy grey clouds hung over Kahiru, threatening to release its snow any day.

Gumi shuffled to the door while she gazed at the books around her.

'_I can't remember the last book I read that wasn't assigned by a teacher..._'

Gumi peeked at the titles lining the wooden shelves and smiled nostalgically.

'_Science fiction?_' She picked a book off from the shelf and read the back of the cover. Even when Gumi soon held three books of her favorite genre in her arms, she convinced herself that she needed to catch up on her reading, despite the colossal amounts of homework she still had to complete. Gumi walked out of the aisle with her arms wrapped around the books protectively, wondering if she had room in her backpack for them. She managed to find room after she checked them out, making her way to a desk to stuff them into her already bulging bag. She looked up from her backpack and sighed contently after successfully zipping her backpack shut. The smile quickly faded when she saw him right at the end of the rows of desks, sitting to himself while reading with his back to her.

'_He's here again._' Gumi clutched her backpack nervously, her heart racing faster than a galloping horse.

She stared at the back of his head. She observed the uneven cut of his short mullet and pulled on her skirt uneasily. This was probably the only time he had to himself without having to worry about students flipping his chair over or taking snips of his hair. She watched him scratch the back of his head with his bandaged hand. Gumi gulped. She was thankful enough that she had never been treated with the incredible disrespect that he faced every day. She had been subject to rumors before she left Okinawa, but she had never been victim to hearing her peers whisper and laugh about her behind her back, making jokes that would never reach her ears. Neither had anyone lay a finger on her, either. The teasing, if she had ever had to deal with it, was never unbearably horrible. She had never been a complete outcast; In comparison to his situation, she had only been slightly ostracized before moving away. At least some people held concern for her before she left.

'_Gumi? Hey, it's SeeU, call me back soon, okay? I know you've been out of school for a week, but I'm worried about you. I know things have been crazy, but-_'

Gumi pressed her lips together harshly. Len had no one at all, except for his dead sister, who couldn't do anything but stare at him from the sky. Gumi's attention fell to a distant ticking. She glanced to her right to see a clock hanging against the brown walls, reminding the girl that she didn't have all day. All she had to do was say hi, that was all. Say _something_.

"I liked that book." Gumi blurted.

Len whipped his head around with his large eyes that still held the same dull coating. Gumi was tempted to back away, yet stayed put as she dug her feet into the maroon carpeting.

"_Norwegian Wood?_" Gumi asked upon glancing at the cover of the book. She walked forward a few steps. "I liked it. Murukami is a good writer."

The boy stared at her incredulously- not that she could blame him for his wariness. He gazed at her keenly.

"Oh."

He turned away from her again. Gumi stared at him, now bewildered. She had noticed the bandage on his forehead and mentioned his condition.

"You look pretty wrecked. Why are you just sitting there and reading?"

He whipped his head back to her again. "Because I'm waiting to feel my legs again." He turned back to his book, his should sagging as he slid into his seat.

Gumi's face paled. "Oh."

Gumi wondered if she had spoken enough to Len for Rin to consider it to be a conversation. Probably not. She stared at the back of his head timidly, wondering what else to say until she found Len staring at her again. She felt her soul nearly hop out of her body.

"What do you want?"

"I..."

"Was this a bet? Did someone pay you to talk to me? To try to befriend me as a joke?" He scoffed. "It's happened before, and I'm not stupid enough for fall for something like that. If you're going to insult me, just do so."

"I wasn't going to-"

Len stared at her coldly, as if his eyes could make her vanish if he glared fiercely enough. "Do you think that I don't realize that your like the other vapid girls in this school? Do you know what vapid even means?" Len hissed. His voice still barely rose beyond a whisper, yet his tone became much more severe.

This was the last situation that Gumi could ever imagine happening. She looked at Len, her eye caught in between disbelief and distress. "It means stupid," Gumi said quietly.

Len snorted. "Wow."

Gumi felt her heart race faster as she frowned deeply. "W-what? That's what it means."

"You're probably still too obtuse to know the meaning behind something as simple as _Norwegian Wood_. You probably just think that obtuse is just a large angle, right?"

"It also means to be unintelligent." Gumi defined the word as her voice tensed. "If you think _Norwegian Wood_ is that uncomplicated, then why are you reading it? Hell, why did you meet me in the library last week right after I finished tutoring? Were you going to ask for a tutoring session from an _obtuse _girl like me? A girl who is seemingly too _vacuous_ to recognize the themes of isolation and the importance of memories in_ Norwegian Wood_?"

Len's eyes slowly narrowed as his annoyance increased. "Why are you still here?"

Gumi felt herself shrink at his question. She was only annoying him, _him_, the most isolated boy on the planet. "I guess you're right. Sorry for actually trying to show some concern." Gumi grumbled.

Le suddenly slammed the book back onto the table and slapped his palms onto his thin thighs, throwing his head back and shaking his head. "Wow, just wow. So you're trying to help me? You know what, I _should_ bow down and kiss your feet for you for being so considerate to me! Thank you so much!"

Gumi swallowed painfully as Len's eyes prodded into hers angrily. "I didn't expect anything in return."

"You're really stupid for thinking that you could be a martyr." Len's jaw clenched. "Thinking 'I'll help this kid, get everyone to like him, and be a school hero' was a really fucking stupid idea. If anyone even sees you trying to even talk to me, they'll drop you faster than a diseased leper. Do you want to be like me? Honestly? You won't win anyone's attention by trying to be nice to me."

"Never mind." Gumi suddenly snapped. "Sorry for trying to start a conversation."

Len sneered. "Don't be so naïve and stupid enough to think that I need your so-called charity."

"Who said I was going to-?"

No, that was the whole point as to why she was talking to Len- to help him. Gumi shut her mouth tightly but she felt her bottom lip tremble. She quickly hoisted her backpack upon her shoulders and scowled. "You're scared. He's just scared." She repeated to herself under her breath as she turned away from Len and headed for the door.

Gumi quickly stormed out of the library as she felt the water build up in her eyes. She harshly rubbed her eyes as she darted out of the school, her boots clacking against the pavement briskly. The cold stung her bare hands and her damp eyes, making Gumi wish that she hadn't bothered to talk to him at all.

'_You're stupid Gumi, just stupid._'

He stared at the library door coldly. He turned back to his book and picked it up, but his interest in reading had died. He tossed it back onto his desk and sat his chin into the palm of his hand. Why should he be nice to her when she flat out ran away from him before he could ask her a simple request? Not that he could blame her. It was stupid of him to think that she would help him. She'd loathe him eventually, just like everyone else did. She probably already did. She'd look behind her shoulder and whisper into someone's ear soon enough about that _creepy Gaijin._

'_I liked it. Murakami is a good writer._'

It was in that moment that he had to decide if the help was worth it, but why bother open up to her if she rejected him the first time? He wasn't dumb enough to be duped into thinking that she'd willingly waste her time on him. There was no way that she would just go up and talk to him willingly a second time. She wasn't going to help him because it was all just an act, and he caught her in the middle of it. Miku definitely must have had paid her.

'_They're definitely not getting any more rumors out of me._' He thought defiantly. Len knew he'd regret yelling at her in the morning, after she told everyone about what that _goddamn psycho_ had said to her, and Gakupo would be right behind her to back her up. Even if sticking up for himself meant a black eye for him, it'd be worth it. They made up enough nonsense about him anyway.

But what if she actually wanted to help him study for a class that he was only going to bomb anyway?

That was a joke that Len had to save for later.

* * *

Gumi forced her eyes open, forcefully staring at the illuminating computer screen. She was going to finish her history paper, even if it wasn't due until a week from now, as long as it kept her mind busy.

'_It's the weekend, I don't need to sleep._'

Gumi glimpsed at the time on her computer.

'_I don't want to fall asleep on my desk again, either._'

Yet Gumi didn't want Rin to criticize her, after the catastrophic conversation between her and Len. Gumi rubbed her heavy eyes repeatedly.

'_I don't even want to be a part of this deal anymore. I'm not going to be able to help him._'

'_Don't be so naïve and stupid..._'

'_You're a loser, Gumi..._'

Gumi stared at her keyboard dejectedly. She shut her laptop off and gazed at her bed.

'_I can't._'

Gumi still made her way to her bed, rolling onto her mattress and throwing the comforter over herself. She shut her phone off and placed it on her nightstand.

'_I'm going to disappoint Rin. I disappoint everyone. I really was stupid enough to think that I could help him, even after I blew him off the first day in the library. Hah, maybe I should have listened to Piko; I'm a fucking loser who makes everyone suffer because I'm too stupid and callous..._'

"That didn't work out very well, did it?"

Gumi jumped at the sight of the white walls, slowly sliding into her seat as Rin sat in front of her, with no sweets of vases of flowers to keep them separated. Rin leaned on the table, gazing at Gumi with no harshness in her eyes, but with patience, a reaction that didn't seem fitting towards Gumi's recent failure. Gumi rolled her shoulders back and sighed wearily.

"I tried. I told you that I'd fuck up."

"No, you didn't."

"You thought I'd make progress, and that opposite of that happened." Gumi mumbled. "Instead, he hates me now because I made it seem like I was trying to dupe him into a plan to humiliate him. I don't get it, though. I didn't expect him to be thankful for my presence- I actually shouldn't be surprised that I repelled him, considering that I'm just a nuisance most of the time, but I don't understand why he didn't want the help? I know I bailed on him the first time when he tried talking to me, but I was being sincere. I shouldn't blame him for hating me; he has it a lot worse anyway."

"How about we try to put in perspective?" Rin clapped her hands together and sucked her cheeks in as she stared quizzically at the ceiling. "How would you feel if you had no friends?"

"Pretty shitty."

"How would you feel if all those kids made fun of you, even by the supposedly unpopular ones?"

"A lot more shitty."

"And how about if those adults looked at you like a disappointment, too? How would you feel if they just stared at you and shrugged, even after you asked for help while being covered with bruises? How would you feel if the people who are supposed to protect you turned a blind eye to your harm?"

"You made it sound like he'd be a bit more open to me," Gumi said flatly. "I can't blame him for acting like that to me, after he's been treated like a loser for so long. If he can't trust anyone, though, what makes you think that he's going to trust me?"

"You just have to prove that you're not going to use him as a pawn for your own game. You were right: Len is scared, because he can't put his trust in anyone, even though he needs the help. You can still help, though. You're not completely hopeless at the moment." Rin gazed at Gumi with a distant smile. "I remember all the things Len used to like."

"G-great! So, can you tell me?"

"Eh, well, to be honest, I'm sort of on a tight schedule."

"With what?" Gumi asked incredulously.

Rin frowned, insulted. "Dead people stuff. I don't just on my butt all day and eat bon-bons. I gotta keep a quota for God, y'know? I need to type up our conversation for Him." Rin suddenly lifted up a recorder and shook her hand slightly. "I have to prove that I'm on the job, too, that I'm not just using you, either. I have to make sure that you and Len stay safe. I have to keep everything moving forward so that Len can get out of Kahiru and so that I can return home. Besides, I'm sure you want to know more about my brother's past?"

"Yeah, but what about you?" Gumi straightened her back, leaning forward as the inquiries she had for Rin flooded back into her mind.

"Hmm, maybe later."

Gumi let out an exasperated cry. "No, wait-!"

* * *

"_Two more little ones."_

_The woman glanced at the two toddlers presented to her. Upon determining their surroundings, the boy and girl quickly dispersed, sloppily running around the room eagerly. The man who had brought them in sighed, setting his suitcase onto the floor slowly._

"_Sorry. You didn't seem prepared for them right now."_

"_No, I expected them. Kagamine Rin and Len, hm?" The woman looked at the toddlers again as she quickly put away her paperwork, reassuring herself first that they weren't touching anything breakable before giving her attention back to the man. "To be honest, they're cuter than I expected. I'm surprised they haven't been adopted yet. Either every couple in Japan has a child, or both of these kids are autistic?"_

"_No, not autistic. The girl is fine."_

"_Then what's wrong with the boy?" She gazed at the flaxen haired boy with raised eyebrows as he attempted to climb the plush black chair in the corner of the room._

"_Poor immune system. Even if he's in a separate room with some kid with a cough, he's bound to get it. If it wasn't for that, they'd both be in a home by now, but no one wants a sick kid. No one wants to risk the girl being sick, either. It really is a shame-"_

"_Ah, no no!" The woman quickly ran to the room as she caught the young boy reaching onto the shelf as he climbed over the arm of the chair. She sat him back down. "That's not a good boy! Oh, God, make sure the girl isn't getting into any trouble-"_

"_Rin's just toddling around. I'll get him to sit down."_

_The woman still ran after Rin while the man sat Len down. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the dribble from the boy's nose._

"_C'mon, Len, be good. Hey, do you want to see what I got you?"_

_The boy looked at the man curiously as he turned around and grabbed his suitcase from off the floor. He opened it and hastily pulled out something that made the boy's eyes glitter._

"_Do you want the banana, Len?"_

_The toddler nodded obediently. The man chuckled and peeled the skin off of starchy fruit for him. He presented it to the boy, who wrapped it in his small, grubby hands without hesitation._

"_Ah, well, he's cute when he's not causing trouble." The woman sighed tiredly, but smiled as she held Rin in her arms. "She's pretty good, too."_

"_Yes, they're very well behaved children when they want to be."_

"_There's no medicine that can fix that boy's constant cold, Kiyoteru?" The woman eyed the boy as she watched his boy's nose begin to run. The man wiped the boy's nose clean from mucus again._

"_Medicine can only do so much. The other adoption center had him on several things- just make sure to let the director here gets the list as to what he needs to take. It's all in the folder. He has his good and bad days, though. Hopefully he'll grow out of it." The man patted the boy's head. Len looked up at the two adults with bright eyes._

"_There's still hope for them. Some kids are never going to get out of here."_

_Kiyoteru smiled grimly. "I appreciate your optimism, Lola."_

_Lola stared at the girl in her arms and set her back down to the floor. "Well, if the circumstances permitted it, these two would have completed a family very nicely."_

"_I'm sure if their mother survived, they would have been a very happy family." Kiyoteru sighed gloomily and walked with Lola farther away from the giddy twins. "The mother suffered from complications after their birth."_

"_How about the father?"_

_Kiyoteru scratched behind his ear. He pulled a folder from out of his briefcase and presented it to Lola. "Their mother died minutes after giving birth to Len. The birth went smoothly with Rin, but immediately after giving birth to Len, she began bleeding immensely."_

"_Sounds like postpartum hemorrhaging."_

"_That's what it was. The father couldn't deal with his wife's death, to put it bluntly."_

"_He abandoned them?"_

"_No." Kiyoteru slowly pulled his index finger up to the side of his head and kept his thumb perpendicular, than flicked the two fingers upward into the air as the invisible bullet made its way into his brain. He offered Lola an unperturbed stare. "He had a history of depression."_

_Lola grimaced with disappointment, staring at the twins pitifully. "Life hasn't been very fair to them."_

"_Definitely not. Hopefully, that will end here."_

_Len stared up at the adults gleefully. Kiyoteru and Lola took turns gazing back at the giddy boy, smiling sympathetically at him and his sister, who busied herself with the circular pattern of the rug sprawled out in front of her. Len stared back at them as he giggled warmly, with bits of mashed banana flying from his mouth, smiling at one the last few people who held any concern for him._

* * *

Gumi shook quietly as she lethargically rose from her bed, hoisting herself up with her elbows, with her comforter clinging to her snugly. She blinked repeatedly to wash the blurriness away from her tired eyes and peeked at the clock on her nightstand.

"Two-thirty?" Gumi repeated the time with exhaustion. She groaned and flopped onto her bed.

'_Something, something, a man and a woman…Len and Rin as babies…_" Gumi attempted to loosely thread her dream back together. '_What was the point of that?_'

Gumi closed her eyes and groaned reluctantly as she got up from her warm bed and lugged her way to her dresser. She sloppily opened her notebook, wrote a few things down, and slammed it back shut.

'_I'll figure it out later._'

It was a poorly thought out idea, as seven hours later, Gumi was reading the indecipherable scribbles in her notebooks, regretting her decision. She groaned loudly and whined.

"I'm so stuupiiid."

She flopped onto her bed. She clenched her eyes shut.

'_Alright, I can remember the dream. It wasn't that complicated. It was just that man, the woman, Len and Rin as annoying little babies…but how is this going to help me?'_

A knock resounded on her door.

"Gumi, are you up?"

"Yeah, mom." Gumi looked at the door.

"Can you keep an eye on Piko?" She asked from the other side of the door. "He's still sleeping, but remind him when he wakes up that if he wants to go out at all today, he needs to do his homework first."

"Yeah, I will."

Gumi waited for a response but didn't receive one. She glanced at the notebook sprawled out on her bed and frowned with disappointment.

'_Alright, I can figure this out. Rin wanted me to dream about this so I knew more about her and Len's past-_ _God, they looked like little pains in the asses._' Gumi cringed at the memory of Len spitting his banana spittle from out of his mouth, the chewed fruit dribbling down his chin like water, while Rin was flailing around on the carpet like a cat high on cat-nip.

'_Wait._'

Gumi repeated the thought of Len's eyes glowing at the sight of the fruit. Gumi raised an eyebrow.

'_Maybe he likes bananas? But…bananas are gross._' Gumi shriveled her nose at the phantom smell of bananas that wafted over her nostrils. '_Who would want to eat something that looks like a dick? And even all of those banana-flavored candies taste nasty._'

Gumi taped her fingers against the notebook and slumped over, her elbows on her legs as they dangled over her beds as she blew air through her dry lips. A trip to the grocery store was in store for her.

* * *

**Blub blub update.**

**Part 2 will be intense, trust me! Very intense, like, someone's-gonna-get-a-whoopin' intense. Get excited! Once again, thank you for the faves/follows/reviews! I appreciate every single one! /w\**


	6. Part 2, Ch 2

**HI IT'S UPDATE TIME. GET EXCITED! Or not. Fine, be that way u^u Here's the next chapter...**

* * *

Megurine Luka hated her lunch break.

There didn't seem much to loathe in the comfortable lounge, but Luka would never vouch for its arid ambiance. As usual, she'd graze around the teacher's lounge with the rest of the staff while consuming her tuna sandwich and drinking her lukewarm green tea, as they talked about their weekend, their families, and other miscellaneous topics. She'd do just the same, talking to her superiors about the unimportant aspects of her life: About her weekend and her Saturday grocery trips, in which she'd gripe over the rising price of milk or tuna; about her unsuccessful love life (it wasn't her fault that no guy seemed to like her pets); and about, of course, her three cats. Luka's life would have never been complete without them. All three of their fluffy tails almost made Luka's heart warm again. Despite the dreariness of it all, Luka didn't dread the mundane conversations with the teachers, the lukewarm tea, nor the goddamn persistent mathematics teacher, who always wanted to know what she was doing the next weekend and the weekend after that. It was never those things (although, she was about ready to kick that math teacher in his nether regions). It was always the end of her break, which usually ended when Luka had enough of the gossip.

Sometimes, she would be lucky. If she left break early enough, she wouldn't have to see _him_. Although, most of the time, he was walking to the lounge while she was walking back to the library. At first, it annoyed Luka, especially so when she couldn't find a different route to the library without seeing him. A few months into it, she was about ready to scream in his face, shout in his eardrum, and ask what the hell he was doing here, and what did she want with her life? Why did he want to remind her of her failures? Of the bleary life she threw a blanket over and suffocated several years prior to procuring her job in Kahiru? Why was he there, threatening to pull the blanket from the corpse of her childhood?

Yet he wasn't there to threaten her. He was in this school to work, and had been working for this school for many years as a chemistry teacher. He didn't know that she would eventually work in the same school as he did, much like she didn't know that his previous profession was just a means to become a teacher. An odd route to go, Luka previously thought, but if teaching made him feel fulfilled, she couldn't pull him back, either. It was a smart route, too, especially after the murder. Luka was glad she hadn't been in Kahiru to witness the mess which had been the trial. It was an incredibly distorted, sticky mess, so horribly viscid that Luka swore she could feel it on the palms of her own hands, glued on and unwilling to peel away. It seemed that he took Kagamine Rin's murder as a means to flee from the mess that the orphanage was in, and she couldn't blame him. It wasn't his fault, after all, and he had to feel as guilty as she did. Did he actually feel guilty? Luka didn't know; he didn't press into her affairs, and she had no right to do the same. It didn't seem that he remembered much about Luka either, back when she was a teenager herself, a frizzy haired girl who would sit in the corner and read about petty romance novels while wailing about her lack of boyfriends. Everyone mostly remembered Rin, her blonde bob and all. Luka's face, though, was undoubtedly familiar to some, but overall vague to the town she once lived in. Yet, he never said a word to her, nor anything about her or her past ordeals to anyone.

It wasn't her frizzy haired self Luka liked to forget specifically. The hair could stay as long as it mended well into her story. Luka preferred to tell that she grew up with a loving family. There was no point in telling anyone that she grew up in a place where children were abandoned, where they were meant to rot unless they were picked up by a desperate couple. Luka preferred to live a childhood that had never existed, that she never had the pleasure of experiencing. It was almost like rewriting a book, except that Luka had torn out the old and unwanted pages, ripped up the chapters of her failed relationships and friendships, and mended the seams of the book with new pages glorifying her nonexistent family and friends, detailing fake birthday parties and fabricated days at the beach.

But he wasn't supposed to be walking down the hallways during his break. He wasn't a character in her new autobiography. He had been shredded and tossed away, just like the rest of them, but it wasn't just him that had come creeping back into her life. The people she had spent so long forgetting hadn't been forgotten by the school, and would never be forgotten, much to Luka's distress. Her past was creeping up around her, wrapping her inside the blanket in which she had suffocated everyone else in. Luka was almost beginning to regret her decisions; regretting her steady job and not waiting for other offers was a blow in itself, but perhaps, maybe this was what she deserved for her hastiness? Perhaps it was punishments for running away from the town that housed her? In Luka's honest opinion, the worst part of the day wasn't even offering Kiyoteru a half-hearted, lip-pressed smile as they walked by each other through the hallway. That wasn't the worse part of her day.

Luka turned the corner and walked down the steps to the library, just after sharing a weak nod with Kiyoteru. The worse part of her day was sitting in her chestnut colored chair, filing her books, when she would hear the door open, and watch the same teenage boy come staggering in through the doorway during the late afternoon. It occurred on a near daily basis. She would watch him take a book from out of his ripped and mended backpack, read at the study desks, and scratch his head with his bandaged hands. Luka could only ask herself how she managed to fail someone, someone who used to be close to her, even during her frizzy haired teenaged days, so horrifically. Luka remembered the first day of work when she saw him walk him. She had to run to the bathroom and throw water onto her face, look at herself in the mirror as mascara and eyeliner leaked from her eyes, and ask herself if it was actually _him_? The boy that she had abandoned for her university scholarship? Luka still couldn't look him in the eyes, either, even when he checked out books from her. His presence nauseated her, but for different reasons that weren't related to hatred and disgust; he was only a reminder to the life she had spent years covering up. At least she had successfully managed to hide her years behind her modest education. But him, the innocent young boy she used to read to at night with his twin sister? He couldn't escape his past. He would never be able to. At least he had nothing to hide, while Luka was still stuck sitting on her blanket, scooping up the oozing remnants of her past back under the cloth, while smiling bitterly to her coworker, and while watching the young boy suffer in the corner of the library, as his miserable history wept from under his bandages.

Luka still couldn't understand what happened to him, even if she saw his face on the internet every day on her laptop while she attended university, his eyes still topped off to the brim with weariness constantly. Luka couldn't find it in herself to check if his eyes had changed at all during these years. She didn't doubt that they remained the same.

Luka sat down in her chestnut colored chair, fixed her blouse, picked up a book, and waited.

* * *

On Monday, Gumi decided that the bananas she bought weren't ripe enough to share with Len, and decided to wait (or, hesitated, which seems like a more suitable word). On Tuesday, she tutored Gacha again, which went, undoubtedly, smoother than the rest of her graceless evening.

"Hey, Gumi!"

Gumi lifted her head up to respond to the whisper, as Miku trotted down the carpeted steps to the study area, her teal pigtails jumping energetically with her.

"Does Gacha have his recent test on him?" She asked.

"Yeah," Gumi said. Gacha took out the test for her and passed it to Miku.

"An eighty-seven. Much better than the seventy-two percent you received on the last test."

Gumi watched Gacha deflate. "He's been trying really hard, Miku."

"I wasn't insulting him." Miku frowned. "This is a good thing. I have to show the score to Yukari and Gakupo to show how Gacha has been progressing. Nice work, kiddo." Miku walked over and casually ruffled Gacha's hair, much to his discontent. "I'll be right back."

"'Kay."

Miku skipped away with Gacha's test rippling in her hand. Gacha squinted at her back and slumped in his seat.

"All of my friends say that they'd love to date Miku." He muttered.

Gumi could barely hold back a snort of amusement. "Yeah, well, tell them that it's a pipe dream. Miku has her eyes on Kaito. I've known that since day one."

"I feel bad for Kaito, though."

"Why? Miku doesn't seem too clingy- erg, yeah, she can be annoying, but she's not _that_ bad, she's just a bit too perky and extroverted for me. I-I'm glad that she decided to be friends with me, since I'm boring in the first place, but- erg, I'm getting off track. I don't see Kaito straying away from her, either, so I'd assume that they enjoy being together?" Gumi shrugged with uncertainty, wondering what Gacha knew that she didn't. "Miku told me that the only reason they're not dating is because they know it's not right to be dating at the moment. She says when she gets to high school, they're going to get together. I see them fooling around together during track all the time. They pass notes to each other during class, whisper in their ears, and all that kind of crap."

"Miku is nuts." Gacha admitted bluntly.

Gumi almost laughed with disbelief. "She has her quirks, but Miku isn't insane. I know what crazy looks like."

"I don't think you do."

"I'm pretty sure I do, dude. My best friend in high school secretly dated this dude who had posters of Naruto all around his room. She broke up with him when he wanted her to dye her hair pink like Sakura."

"That's not the type of crazy I'm talking about. There are a lot of different types of crazy."

"What kind of crazy is she, then?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it. I'll just tell you why I know she's crazy." Gacha paused thoughtfully. "Do you know Aoki Lapis? Short blue hair? Well, actually, she's just short in general."

"I don't know everyone yet." Gumi shook her head.

"We're friends. We're in the same classroom. Aoki is really chill. She doesn't even say anything bad about Gaijin. She's not one to spread crap about people."

"She sounds pretty cool."

"Yeah, she is. A few months ago- before you moved here- I was waiting to walk home with her before she came out of school sobbing. Tears were coming out of her eyes like sprinklers! She was crying and everything."

"You keep repeating yourself. You're getting excited over this, calm down."

"S-sorry, it just frustrates me." Gacha breathed out through his nose. He cast a sheepish glance at his desk. "Aoki came out looking like a mess. I tried comforting her, but she was in hysterics. I sat her down, and- yeah, at first, I was telling her to calm down, since I figured that she was crying over something dumb- until she told me about Miku. Earlier that day, Aoki had found Kaito's cellphone on the bleachers in gym and had given it back to him. After school, Miku just pulled her aside, asked her to chat for a little bit. Miku takes Aoki to the girl's bathroom and just starts railing her, calling her a slut just for talking to her 'future' boyfriend. Aoki ran away from her. What scared me was when Aoki hid behind me when she saw Miku stomping out of the school building. I'd never seen Miku like that either; her face was red and she was stomping down the stairs like some..._princess_ who hadn't gotten her way. I walked Aoki away before Miku could see us.

"I walked her home and we talked to her parents about it. Her parents called the school, but nothing was done about it; they dismissed the fight because they didn't think Miku would do something like that. Aoki told her parents not to press because she didn't want Miku to start harassing her for ratting her out. It just ticks me off that everyone thinks that Miku is a good girl who lost her innocence because of Rin's death. It sucked for her, but she had balls to go and call Aoki a slut. Miku is seriously obsessed with Kaito."

Gumi gazed at the math textbook on the desk pensively, and then nodded at Gacha. "Thanks for telling me that." Gumi gazed at the book shelves before turning to Gacha again. "Miku is my friend, though. I do believe you, but I really haven't seen her do anything too weird since I moved here." Gumi sighed. "I haven't been here long enough to make a good judgement of people yet."

Gacha nodded. "I'm glad that you at least believe me. I told my friends and they said I was over-reacting, that Miku isn't a bitch at all. If you ask Aoki- and I mean that, uh, don't ask her, I just mean in general-"

"So, rhetorically speaking?"

"Pretty much. If you ask Aoki about Miku, I think she'll have a panic attack over remembering what she did to her."

"It's just weird because Miku is happy all the time, and she's really popular. I still don't know why she likes me."

Gacha shrugged. "Maybe you remind her of Rin? Rin was pretty smart, like you are."

Gumi sighed, annoyed. "I don't know why everyone thinks that. I almost failed a few classes back in Okinawa before I moved here."

"Really?" Gacha's eyes widened.

"There was shit going on, too, but if I was smart, I wouldn't have almost failed English and history. I managed to catch back up, but it's… just stupid. I'm not that different from everyone else."

"Why did you almost fail your classes? Did you get sick?"

"No." Gumi frowned.

"Why did you move here?"

Gumi pursed her lips tightly. She squirmed in her seat unconsciously as her stomach tightened uncomfortably. "Eh, reasons."

"But-"

"Gumi!"

Miku's voice rang throughout the library. Gumi caught a glimpse of the librarian putting her finger to her lips before resuming her work. Gumi did the same to Miku, and the teal haired girl giggled while rolling her eyes.

"You're good to go." She gave Gacha his test back. Miku looked back at Gumi. "Yukari and Gakupo are coming down. Gakupo wants to talk to you, too, about tutoring a few other kids."

Gumi's tongue when dry, yet she nodded multiple times. "Sure, no problem. Gacha, I think you can go now."

"Cool."

Gumi stared at her pale hands blankly, hiding the butterflies in her stomach, where they were supposed to be. She felt the flutter of wings inching into her throat. She swallowed them back inside.

"See ya, Gumi."

Gumi waved to Gacha, yet her attention diverted to the door as she watched Yukari and Gakupo walk into the library. Gacha frowned, and then departed, offering a small hello to Yukari and Gakupo before leaving. Gakupo nodded to Gacha in acknowledgment before he left.

Gumi kept her eyes on Yukari. "Hey."

"Hey." Yukari yawned before sitting next to Gumi. "Just came to check in."

Gakupo stood next to Gumi. Gumi felt goose bumps rise on her arms. "I'm good."

"I mean, to check in on Gacha and how everything is going. From his test scores, he seems to be improving."

"Yeah, he's fine. He's a good kid."

"Gakupo has a list of kids that sighed up for tutoring." The corners of Yukari's lips twitched upward. "I think Gacha put in some good words about you."

Gumi felt her cheeks warm profusely. "I guess so."

"Grumpy-pants next to you will choose some kids to tutor. I'm heading out."

"You'd be grumpy too if you had wrestling practice all the time." Gakupo grumbled.

"Your season is almost over." Yukari rolled her eyes at Gakupo's discontent muttering. She walked over to grab Gakupo's cheeks and force his lips into a smile. Gakupo forced his head away and stuck his tongue out at Yukari playfully. Gumi raised an eyebrow at this display.

"See you later. Have fun, you two!"

Yukari departed, leaving Gumi to stare at the desk to evade Gakupo's glance. Gakupo took the seat next to her and pulled out a sheet.

"Alright, we have seven kids so far that signed up."

Gumi nodded tensely, the movement of her head seeming robotic as she gazed at the list. "Okay."

"They all requested you, too."

"Huh." Gumi's avoided Gakupo's gaze, wondering if the sudden headache she had was because of her anxiousness or Gakupo's glare, if he even was glaring at her. Maybe he was grinning, wondering how a stupid girl like her could be a popular tutor? Gumi wasn't sure, and she preferred being unsure at the moment. Gakupo tapped his pen against the first name. Macne Nana, it read, and Gumi concentrated on the name, staring at the girl's name intensely as her stomach twirled and twisted inside of her.

"Sorry if that angers you," Gumi said apologetically. "I know you're smarter than me."

"Who said I was jealous?"

Gumi felt her goose bumps trail all the way down her neck, as if Gakupo's low voice had slithered down the back of her shirt. "I just feel bad."

"No need," Gakupo simply said. "When we choose, it just means that some of them will be missing out on me."

Gumi scratched the back of her head, dragging her fingers down her scalp repeatedly. "That's some great confidence."

There was a pause. Gumi focused on Macne Nana's handwriting as she noticed Gakupo leaning in. He stared at the paper with her before turning his head slowly towards her, grinning all the while.

"GAAAH!"

Gumi shrieked and caught herself by the ledge of the table before she could fall over. Gumi snapped her head around as Gakupo howled with laughter.

"Shush!"

Gumi nodded nervously to the unhappy librarian before giving Gakupo an angry scowl.

"What the hell?" She hissed quietly.

"Are you afraid of me?" Gakupo's laughter settled into a chuckle. "You're scared? You're scared!" He began to clap vigorously.

"Did you think that screaming in my ear would prove that?" Gumi breathed in and out, trying to calm her hastily beating heart, fearing it would pause itself from over-exertion.

"I think we can agree that you're, at the very least, a nervous wreck around me."

"You didn't exactly present yourself kindly the first time we met." Gumi muttered. She fixed her hair and tugged her skirt further down her legs.

"When wrestling practice lasts three hours a day and your coach makes you run five miles in thirty minutes, let me know how you feel."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry-"

"I'm just kidding." The purple haired boy quieted his laughter and picked up Gumi's pencil, which had fell during her scare, and held it to her.

Gumi took it from him. "T-thank you." She forced herself to look at him, and she watched his eyes harden at her. She froze.

"I saw you watching me the other day."

Gumi's lips shut together firmly. Her eyes widened as fear crept back inside of her.

"Admit it."

Gumi's eyes were locked into Gakupo's purple irises, glaring at her gravely. Gumi's mind had shut down, knowing that she had no words to defend herself with. She waited for Gakupo to acknowledge her interaction with Len, and waited as the grandfather clock ticked slowly, confusing Gumi as to how long Gakupo had been staring at her.

"...you like watching me, don't you?"

"E-eh?!" All of Gumi's body heat rushed to her face while Gakupo nearly sent himself into a laughing fit for a second time, curling his arms around his head as he buried his face into the desk. Gumi watched Gakupo indignantly while she stuttered. "No! N-no! If I-I was scared of you, why would I bother to look at you in _that_ kind of way?"

Gakupo sniffled and chuckled as he lifted his head up. "I'm fooling around. G-God, you're easy to mess with."

"I'm glad you like using me for your own amusement." Gumi snapped.

"To be honest, when I saw you last week through the window, I thought you were some annoying first-year student, and then I realized it was you when I squinted, and I wondered if I had missed a tutoring meeting and Yukari made you come and get me. But, since there wasn't, why were you watching me?"

"It's definitely wasn't because of infatuation." Gumi pressed her cool hands against her cheeks, hoping to cool her face down.

"Your face says otherwise."

"There's a difference between blushing from mortifying embarrassment, and blushing over a crush. If you can't tell, my face is a nice glowing shade of I-wish-I-was-dead-right-now."

"Why were you watching me, then?"

Gumi used the paper in front of her as a fan to cool her face with. Gakupo gazed at her curiously. Gumi put the paper down and placed her attention on the desk again. "Miku told me that you beat _him _up every day. I didn't know if it was true or not. I guess it is, though."

Gakupo's face fell as soon as Gumi mentioned Len. "You're still pretty new here, correct?"

"Y-yes." Gumi nodded.

"Do you know why I beat _him_ up every day?"

"I do."

"Are you aware of what that bastard did to his sister?"

"I do."

"Then it shouldn't bother you." Gakupo sourly turned the paper over to reveal the names of the students again.

"It doesn't. It sounds like Len deserves everything he gets. I just didn't know if Miku was lying or not."

"Miku can be full of shit sometimes- I think you know by now that I don't like Miku-"

"Miku doesn't have kind words for you either."

"I don't care. She's been talking shit about me for years. No, you'll see me giving _Gaijin_ what he asks for every day."

"Got it." Gumi swallowed hoarsely. Gumi stared at the grandfather clock behind her. "The library is closing soon. We should choose a few students from the list now."

Gakupo breathed through his nose, nodded in agreement, and leaned over the desk. They discussed a few names and picked students, based off of their strengths and weaknesses. Gumi's heart began to soothe itself as the heartbeat returned to a normal pace.

"We're good?" Gakupo folded up the paper and put it in his pocket as soon as they picked names.

"We're good. I wrote the names down. I'll let Yukari know when to have a meeting for the students to come down so we can speak to them about scheduling a few sessions."

"I'm glad that you replaced Kaito. He was an idiot," Gakupo said suddenly.

Gumi raised her eyebrows at Gakupo. He simply shrugged.

"He is. Why do you think Miku likes him? So she can control him. It's not very hard to see. I'm glad we got you to replace him, otherwise this club might have tanked, and it would have made me and Yukari look bad. Even if everyone wants you to tutor them for math, some of them will just have to deal with me." Gakupo stretched out in his seat with a grin. "But, I don't think they'll have a problem with that. I like to call myself a chill guy."

"S-sure." Gumi smiled with agreement, yet her mind screamed the opposite.

"Just be wary about Miku. If you haven't heard, she's not quite right. She has a chicken nugget missing from her happy meal." Gakupo tapped his pen against his head.

"I-I can't make a judgment yet. Miku is still my friend, at least, she considers me her friend."

"Just don't flirt with Kaito and you'll be fine."

"Didn't plan on it." Gumi smiled uneasily at Gakupo. She glanced at his long purple hair. "So, you wrestle?"

'_Way to state the obvious, dumbass._'_  
_

"Yeah. I got out of practice early so I could figure out this whole tutoring thing with you." Gakupo yawned and stretched out in his seat again. "I showered and got changed just for you." He suddenly winked at Gumi, and laughed when she turned red again.

Gumi's lips fell into a firm line as her cheeks became redder than her lips. "I've never met a guy who had hair longer than I do." Gumi snapped.

"Are you messing with my silky locks?" Gakupo brushed his hair over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "All the girls are jealous of me because of my hair. I'm pretty sure that's why Miku hates me: she will never hair as nice as mine. I can see it in your eyes, too." Gakupo mentioned smugly.

Gumi scoffed. "There's a reason why I have short hair." Gumi flicked her short strands upward. "I save a lot on shampoo and conditioner." Gumi frowned. "Seriously, how do you keep your hair up during wrestling practice?"

"Lots of braids and ponytails." Gakupo sighed. "But it's worth it every day to look like this." He smiled broadly and stroked his locks. "Everyone knows not to make fun of my hair because they know that I can kick their ass."

"...a lot of people made me think you were going to be this macho kind of guy."

"I am macho." Gakupo's eyes narrowed. "And I can tell that you're still afraid of me and my guns."

"You're guns? What are your- for the love of God!" Gumi buried her face in her hands as Gakupo threw off his jacket and began to flex his arms.

"What, you don't like my guns? C'mon!"

Gumi began to feel the second-hand embarrassment creeping up behind her. '_God, what guns? His arms are as thin as noodles..._' She covered her face with her hands.

"I'm giving you a free show, Gumi!"

"You're making a fool out of yourself!" Gumi let out a muffled exclamation through her hands.

Gakupo pouted and threw his arms down. "I don't quite understand why you're afraid of me. Do I really scare you?"

"Erg, honestly? You don't." Gumi sat up from her seat, gave a loud huff, and began to pack up her belongings.

"You won't even look at me for more than five seconds…unless my beautiful face makes you too flustered-"

"Not even that, pretty-boy. Your face wouldn't impress me even if it was the last one on Earth."

Gakupo smirked while Gumi shuffled around. "I figured you were the sassy type. What's been holding you back this whole time?"

"I just want to go home." Gumi groaned. "I'm tired and hungry. Mostly hungry. The library is going to close soon, anyway."

"Did Miku put some weird bullshit in your head about me? Usually she just tries to make people think that I'm a wimp."

Gumi felt her resolve dry up like a damp rag that had been left out in the burning sun. She turned to Gakupo, slouched over due to the weight of her backpack, and from the piling stress of the situation. "You're just slightly intimidating. Slightly." Gumi took her index finger and thumb and almost pressed the two together, leaving a small space in between the two fingers to demonstrate how slight Gakupo's intimidation was. "It doesn't help that you beat people up after school."

Gakupo cast Gumi a strange look, as if she was an alien. "What? Do you think I'm going to beat you up?" Gakupo tossed his hair back. "I don't hit girls- hmm, maybe if I ever had the chance, I'd hit Miku, but she doesn't count. My hands are only reserved for Gaijin." Gakupo suddenly glared at the window, as if he could see his scapegoat still bleeding on the blacktop. "Don't hold any sympathy for him. It'd be an insult to everyone."

Gumi shook her head. "I don't want to insult anyone."

"If Gaijin ever goes near you, let me know. He likes to pray on the new ones, the clueless ones. Don't let him get close, because he'll try to suck you in. He'll try to get sympathy out of you, but don't even try, because then you might just end up like Rin." Gakupo kept his eyes on Gumi.

Gumi found herself nodding the whole time. "O-okay. Thank you."

There was a pause of silence. Gakupo offered Gumi a small smile. Gumi blinked and managed to smile back, wondering if she had been too judgmental about him. Yes, he was over-confident and egotistical, but it didn't make him a terrible person- but his attitude towards Len still concerned Gumi, and she was still convinced that Gakupo would kill Len if he had the chance. She knew that Gakupo could not keep harming Len and keep misplacing his anger on him, but she felt that she could, _maybe_, get him to listen, convince him that beating Len wasn't going to solve anything. Gumi thought over the possibility optimistically while a sudden mischievous grin broke out over Gakupo's face.

"BOO!"

Gumi squawked and fell over as Gakupo roared with laughter again.

"...I hate you."

"Not as much as Miku hates me." Gakupo giggled (GIGGLED, Gumi mentally noted). "Do you need help getting up?"

Gumi, lying on her two-ton backpack, sighed. "No, I'm fine." She laid on the ground for a few moments while Gakupo stood over her.

Gakupo sighed. "You can't get up, can you?"

"...no."

* * *

"I'll see you around, right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Gumi waved hesitantly, but managed a smile as Gakupo suddenly grinned as he flicked his follicles behind his back.

"I know you're jealous!" Gakupo sang.

"Not really!" Gumi shouted.

She listened to him laugh as he walked in the opposite direction, listening to chuckled fade away as she became farther from the school. Gumi kept her eyes on the concrete, rummaging through her mind for an answer.

Gakupo was not a typical schoolyard bully. She had expected him to curse at her, accuse her of helping Len, and threaten to expose her unless he listened to her every word.

Instead, he flirted with her, teased her over her 'trivial' fear of him, and implored for her to stay safe from Len. Additionally, he was more flamboyant than she had expected. Gumi was beginning to wish that Gakupo had been a stereotypical, brutish bully. It seemed that he only played that role for Len, while he was charming for everyone else (at least, save for Miku).

'_Charming._'

Weren't the most charming the most heinous? Gumi knew better than to put faith in Gakupo, but the thought of trying to get Gakupo to stop harming Len was now out of the question. Gakupo was, by no means, any more innocent than the supposedly insane Miku. If anything, it seemed that Len was the sanest out of everyone in the school, even if he enjoyed bananas.

The bananas. The bananas in her backpack. Gumi cried out with anger, realizing that they are most likely crushed between her textbooks due to her ridiculous fall. She could already smell the fruit. She drearily told herself that she'd have to wash her backpack over the weekend.

'_Now, I have to buy more of that stupid fruit. God, I hate bananas._'

Gumi hissed at a thought.

'_Len didn't come into the library. What if he saw me with Gakupo? Shit, now he's not going to trust me at all, fuck fuck FUCK._'

Gumi pulled at her hair as she raced back to her house, her body unable to keep up with her racing mind.

'_I just have to talk to Len tomorrow and tell him I'm on his side. His side only, even if Gakupo told me not to fall for his tricks, but Rin told me that he wasn't a psychopath, and Rin knows everything, even if she isn't telling me everything, even though it would have helped if she told me that Miku was insane..._'

The thoughts raced through her mind faster than the rapid pumping of her legs. She rushed into her house and sprinted into her room. Gumi threw her backpack off and slammed herself into her bed, forcing her face into her pillow. She clenched the pillow, her pale hands turned white, and her room remained silent for only a few moments before Gumi ripped her vocal chords into her pillow.

"Tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to believe in!"

* * *

He woke up with a startled gasp, throwing himself into a coughing fit as soon as he was awakened up from his unconsciousness. Darkness surrounded Len, and he briefly wondered if he was in his home. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion until the lingering smell of paint caught his attention. He gagged slightly and groaned, the low moan curdling upward from his dry throat unpleasantly.

'_I'm still in the art closet._'

He had been completely deterred from going to the library due to his injuries. Gakupo had been short yet brutal with him, up to the last kick and punch. It was close to the end of Gakupo's wrestling season. Gakupo was stressed, and, of course, he needed _something_ to take the stress out on without the risk of being reprimanded. Len bit his bottom lip, too hesitant to utter another groan, and put his head against the wall. It'd only become worse once Gakupo was released from his wrestling practices, and would have more time to rip him to shreds. Len winced as his headache began to return to him, his brain pulsing against his skull with discomfort. Len supposed he managed to lock himself into the art closet before he went unconscious. He couldn't remember a thing after Gakupo and his friends had knocked all sense out of him.

Len slowly slipped his phone from out of his pocket. He pulled out the cheap device and noticed it had turned itself off again. He frowned and held down the power button to revive it. The phone barely functioned, but he didn't have the money to buy a new phone. While on the outskirts of town during the summer, a pitying man gave it to him without charge, willing to pay for his monthly bill, not realizing who he was. If the man had known who he was, he would have told him to fuck off, but Len no longer resembled the appearance of his younger days, where his large eyes and fuller face were framed on every single source of media. Len was still thankful for the man, even though the phone usually provided more frustration than pleasure. Len wondered if it was depressing that these past months, including being beaten up by hormonal teenagers and being cooped up inside smelly art closets, had been the better days; better than the days where he was stuck in court and interrogated by angry men. Also, women; he could definitely not forget about the women.

Len scratched his head while he waited for his phone to turn on and almost scratched off a newly formed scab on his scalp. He scolded himself for nearly making himself bleed again. At least his uniform was black, a color that hid his bloodstains very well. The uniform was baggy enough to avoid rubbing against his wounds and scratches. It was like a body of armor, sans the metal. It hid the severity of his injuries, especially helpful whenever he had enough money to scrape together to get out of town. Len rolled his eyes over the impossible thought; it had been years since he had enough money to get out of Kahiru. Ever since Oliver disappeared, he didn't seem to have money for anything except cheap noodles.

His phone dimmed weakly. Len swore when he looked at the time.

'_Ten after seven? Are you kidding me?_'

Len rubbed his heavy eyes and breathed out of his nose with discontent.

'_So much for studying for math._'

He began to cough again from the fumes. Len briefly wondered why he bothered to use the art closet as his safe haven when it smelt more appalling than most of Gakupo's friends did after a hot day at school. Though, the thought of getting his face smothered with their sweat again sent his body shivering. At least tomorrow, he could enjoy peace in the library, provided that _she_ wasn't there.

'_Gakupo or Miku didn't curse me out yet for yelling at the new girl._'

That was the strange part. The girl had stayed away yesterday, and today, she wouldn't see him either way, but nothing was said to him about his rudeness to the new girl. Gakupo and Miku had only slandered him for the past two days for being a maggot on society. Nothing unusual for him. Len attempted to recall the girl's name as he stared at a bucket of green paint. Gumi. He kept forgetting her name. Not that it was important. No one ever bothered to call him by his real name, so what was the point of remembering hers? Then again, she was considered a person, unlike him.

His phone began dinging profusely. With startled eyes, Len picked his phone from off the floor and watched it rattled as text messages poured into it. Len held his breath until the vibrating in his palm stopped and the ringing silenced. Len slowly opened his eyes. His hand began to shake as he reread the prompt on the screen.

'_Eighty-four new messages._'

He wondered why he bothered reading them.

**HI GAIJIN, WHAT'S UP? CALL ME!** Screamed the first text message sarcastically.

**WE HAVE UR NUMBER NOW. DONT YOU WISH U WERE DEAD, LIKE YOUR SISTER?** Said another text bitterly.

**WOULD YOU LIKED TO BE CALLED 'FREAK', AN 'IT', OR DO YOU WANT TO BE REFERRED AS THE USUAL 'GAIJIN'?** The other text asked gleefully.

The other texts were, more or less, the same:

**WHERE'S RIN?**

**WHERE DID RIN GO, GAIJIN?**

**WHERE'S RIN, GAIJIN?**

**WHERE'S RIN?**

**WHERE'S RIN?**

**WHERE'S RIN?**

Len hissed quietly. He clenched his phone, the tops of his fingers turning white as another text asked him where his deceased sister had gone.

'_Their stupid mind games. I hate it. I hate it hate it HATE IT._' Len breathed roughly as he clenched his head, his skull pulsing harshly.

'_You shouldn't have read them, you idiot. See? You made yourself mad. Now look like the psycho that you are._'

He peered at his phone again. His phone stalled as it suffered from a second text bombing, as new messages began to pour in. He continued receiving more texts, impeding him from trying to delete them all. He cringed when he received a picture message. He immediately deleted it before he could open it. The first time he made the mistake of opening one, it was an image of a man who had his face ripped off. Henceforth, every picture message he had received was deleted.

At least he could tell which texts were from Akaito's gang, all of which were sent before his usual afternoon abuse.

RE: YUUMA  
**GO KILL URSELF**

He always adored how insightful he was.

RE: YOHIO  
**SEE U AFTER THE SCHOOL**

Yohio was always known to be great with grammar.

RE: DELL  
**CANT WAIT TO RIP U A NEW ASSHOLE ;)**

He cringed. He silently hoped that Dell's message wasn't meant to be taken literally. He had already done that several times before, and the thought of Dell touching him again always made him ill. Lucky for Dell, he was entitled to do whatever he wanted with him, and had been taking advantage of it ever since Len was found not guilty and was dumped back into the building with his vengeful peers. Everybody justified Gakupo and his group's actions without hesitation. Gakupo had everything he wanted. Len was lucky if he managed to go two months without everyone in the school rediscovering his cellphone number.

He was going to have to change the number again. Len slid against the wall and sighed miserably as the paint fumes began to circulate around his nostrils, increasing his nausea and his pounding headache altogether.

'_I'm not even safe in this goddamn art closet._'

* * *

**TL;DR Bullying sucks.**

**Sorry for the lack of updates. I just got back from Sweden. Derp derp derp. Thanks to everyone who left a review/liked/faved- I really appreciate it! C: I'm happy that people are (hopefully) enjoying this story QwQ The badass fight that's going to go down won't occur until chapter four in this part of the story sooooo you all have something to look forward to! I know this chapter was pretty extensive, and I wanted to give more insight on Gakupo, but that didn't happen. It'll happen soon, though.**

**So, recap: is Gakupo a douchebag or just still sorrowful over the death of his crush (which he really should be over by now)? The world isn't just black and white, I'll remind you all of that. Neither are people's actions; what looks good to some is deemed as terrible to others. Some people are incredibly horrendous and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but is Gakupo, despite his self-entered and overconfident personality, really that kind of person? And can anyone really be as pure as Rin is? Is it even possible to be that selfless? What about Gakupo's friends- what do they think of their actions? Do they even care? What part does Luka play in this story? Kiyoteru? Who knows? You won't find discover everything immediately uvu Writing takes time .w.; See you all later~**


	7. Part 2, Ch 3

**I'M SORRY. HERE'S PART 3! For an explanation of my absence, please read it at the end of this chapter ;3; Thank you for your patience!**

* * *

"The clouds look kinda sad today."

The boy blinked. Slowly, he turned his gaze to his friend. The girl beside him ran her fingers through the strands of grass languidly as she focused on the sky spread above them, clouds streaming through the sky in long strands, the ends dissolving into a wisp.

"Why do you say that, Rin?"

"I don't know. Usually they're poofy and energetic, but they're…slow today," Rin twirled her index finger around a particular long strand of grass, "but I'm being silly."

"No," The boy sat up and smiled at his friend, the long strands of his hair still touching the ground, "You just have an interesting thing of looking at things. I think it's cool."

A slow smile curled along her face, pushing out her cherubic cheeks further. The pair continued watching the sky above them until the girl sat up and glanced at the boy curiously as she fixed the flower in her hair. "You told me you had something to tell me?"

The boy frowned. He then shrugged with dismissal. "Oh, yeah, I guess I did. It's sort of dumb, though. Forget about it."

"No, Gakupo!" The girl tugged on Gakupo's arm and whined suddenly, her bottom lip tucked outwards as she pouted. "You promised!"

"Nah, it's not that important. It's stupid."

"Nothing you say is stupid, Gakupo." Rin's eyes dug into Gakupo's. "Tell me, please?"

Gakupo smiled slowly as he permitted himself to gaze deeper into the girl's eyes, but he quickly returned his stare to his lap. He had no other way of describing her eyes, as he never permitted himself to gaze at them for too long. He was too unnerved to discover what would happen to him if he stared into her irises for too long. Would he drown into the blues of her eyes? Or would he find himself lost in the large wormhole of her pupil? Either way, he was afraid of indulging in her for too long; he couldn't ruin their friendship.

Gakupo found the confidence to bring his head up to Rin after a few moments, while the girl begged for him to spill his thoughts. He smiled at her again.

"No."

"Gakupo!" Rin shouted. "No fair!"

Gakupo giggled at Rin's suspense.

"If you don't tell me, I'll…I'll braid your hair again!"

"That's low, Rin." Gakupo yelped. The possibility of Rin grabbing his hair and tying it into a too-tight braid almost made his scalp burn. "Fiiine."

Rin giggled happily and flopped back onto the soft grass, the palms of her hands situated excitedly in the lap of her skirt. Gakupo found himself staring at the sky again and silently asked God for confidence. Rin's face soon appeared back in his vision. Gakupo sighed tensely.

"This is dumb, but-"

"I'm sure it isn't, Gakupo." Rin quickly grasped Gakupo's hands with a broad smile. "Even if it is 'dumb', I won't judge you." She plucked the flower out from behind her ear and gently placed it into Gakupo's hair.

Gakupo felt relief at the reminder that Rin was much more accepting than his other peers were. She was much more welcoming to his long purple strands and quiet nature. She wouldn't judge him for his request, either. She didn't mind using her time listening to him, unlike his parents; his father was too busy working to lend an ear to him, while his mother was too obsessed with her manicures and diets to pay him any heed either. He let Rin put the flower in his hair and smiled briefly. He felt his heart soothe until a loud voice pierced the calm ambiance of the field.

"Rin? Rin!"

Gakupo gritted his teeth at the sight of short blond hair. Len climbed up the hill, panting tiredly until he caught sight of his sister, grumbling briskly.

"Rin, you said you'd walk home with me." The boy lamented.

"I'm sorry, Len. I forgot. G-Gakupo invited me to the field, and I didn't realize the time." Rin quickly sat up, dusting off any particles of dust from her skirt. She turned to Gakupo quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Gakupo's darkened eyes brightened at Rin's pink cheeks. He nodded.

"I'll see you-"

"Come on, Rin!"

Rin glanced back to her brother with a long sigh and nodded rapidly, but waved to Gakupo a final time with a small giggle before running after her brother, leaving Gakupo deserted.

Gakupo clenched the sides of the book while hunching over the end of his bed. That was the last time the two had spent time together, before Len had found them and had the opportunity to hover over Rin like a wasp, swarming around the two of them until he managed to drag Rin away. Gakupo wished that he had seen it from day one: that Len had been sucking the life out of his sister day by day like a fat leech, until that day when he sucked the oxygen out of her and filled her lungs with smoke. He could barely remember the day of her death; only the memory of screeching sirens and crying children lingered. He didn't even remember Rin's funeral. Apparently, he had shown no sign of emotion until he reached her casket, and collapsed in a heap and begged to see her again. At that point, Rin was only ashes. They managed to cremate whatever was left of her, but it seemed like an insult, to force her to burn in a fire twice. He was grateful for it, though. He didn't need to witness what that leech had done to her body.

Gakupo turned the page. He was greeted with a lilac iris; the same flower Rin had taken from her hair and had weaved into his hair while they were sunbathed in the field. She had a garden of them at her home. She loved wearing flowers in her hair. She almost never took them out of her hair, until she gave him that flower. She gave him a piece of her willingly. He gently turned the next page before any more emotions of distraught filled his head. A lily slid down into the inner hinge. Gakupo sucked his cheeks in before gently pushing the lily back into the center of the page. Afterwards, he rubbed his fingertips that touched the lily onto his pants, as if he had sullied them. The flower was from Rin's funeral. He found it on his bed the day after her funeral, when he had awoke the following morning. He figured he took it, so he could put that last flower from her in his book.

He remembered her through flowers. Every type of blossom, tulip, and rose filled his book. The sakura blossoms were from the festival that Rin had picked up from the ground. The rose was from the park, when they rode their bikes together. She gave him every flower that she picked. She knew that he liked flowers. No one else knew. All of his memories of her were contained in that book. Such a book hadn't been seen by anyone else except for him. If his friends ever saw it, then he was sure that their opinions of him would be full of emasculation. He couldn't have that. He hadn't ripped his heart off from off his shoulder for nothing. No one could know that he still dwelt over Rin's death. He had to make sure that the little leech who took her life away wouldn't jump on anyone else. He had sewn his heart into the book and left it in there, so in school he'd be unstoppable but admirable. Feared yet respected for his troubles. _Gaijin_ didn't deserve to know that he still wept over his deceased sister at night, that no one would ever be as good as she was. All he deserved was the punches that he gave to him nearly every single day.

Being the dealer of punishments should have made Gakupo feel like a hero, but he only felt lower than specks of dirt most of the time, and never higher than that. He knew Rin wouldn't like the fact that he was pummeling her brother to the ground so often. She still loved her brother, even if he hated her because of his spiteful jealousy, but who else was going to punish that bastard for what he did to her? The court system didn't; the school was too hesitant to do anything to him at first; the orphanage didn't kick Len out when they should have done so in the first place. _Gaijin_ deserved to be ostracized. Murderers didn't deserve to live happily. Gakupo knew that. Everyone knew that; it was a simple rule in society: criminals didn't win.

Gakupo slid the book back under into his drawer and locked it. He leaned back into his bed and stared at the ceiling longingly. He wished he had asked Rin to play in the park with him. Maybe, if he had told her that nonsensical request, he would have been happy.

* * *

Thursday was the day. It had to be that day, Gumi told herself, that she had to confront Len again.

Gumi sucked in a harsh breath as she waved her new pupil goodbye. Macne Nana was her new student. Considering Gumi had memorized her name, she didn't see why not to take her under her wing. She was a timid girl with fluffy hair and large eyes; Gumi was glad she didn't let Gakupo take her, or else the girl would probably would have felt as intimidated as Gumi felt around him on a common basis. After Macne Nana's exit, Gumi exhaled slowly, but the pace of her heart was sprinting faster than a race car.

'_He'll be here. Again._'

She didn't understand why his words hurt her so severely. The only person who had cut her deep had been her brother, but that was because they shared blood. Gumi met her brother only a few hours after he was born. Piko's words still hurt her. His deafness around her still made her feel insecure as well. The reason as to why Len's words hurt, it was foreign to her. He was, after all, considered nothing to everyone else. Why would his words hurt her? Considering his placement in the school hierarchy, his words weren't supposed to have value to them.

Gumi wanted to chalk it up to her desire to see her father again. If she saved him, she could see her father and make up for her errors, yet that wasn't her excuse. Gumi wasn't that selfish, contrary to belief. She wanted to help Len, even if her life was in slight jeopardy by taking on this task.

'_A crybaby._' Gumi's eyes narrowed.

That was what she was: a little girl who couldn't take criticism. She was only a coward. Gumi sighed at this unsurprising observation about herself. She dragged her backpack up from under the desk and onto the chair next to her. The familiar sound behind her caught her by her throat. Her eyes squeezed together sharply. She slowly reopened her dilated eyes and stared at her desk while attempting to ignore the dragging sound behind her. She was tempted to pop her earbuds in to drown out the sounds _he_ was making, but she couldn't hide. Gumi waited for the slow shuffling to end, and when it did, Gumi took out the bunch of bananas. They were ripe and yellow (but nonetheless still disgusted Gumi.). She rose from her chair and quietly emerged behind the boy sitting at his desk.

She noticed the multitude of bandages covering his hands, more so than usual, as he dug into his grungy backpack to retrieve something. Gumi's eyes lowered at the sight of his backpack that was covered with less tape and bandages than the boy was covered in. Her lips threatened to curl upwards, and she pinched her thighs painfully to counteract the smile. The fact that the boy sitting in front of her appeared so destroyed and broken up was almost unbearable. It was too painful to do anything but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Gumi could barely take it. She shuddered as she swallowed the smile that threatened to reappear.

"Hi."

Len turned his head around slowly and stared at the girl standing behind him blankly. "You're here again." He drawled, his eyes dulled with apathy. "Why?"

Gumi sealed her lips into a tight line, fighting the ludicrous smile that wanted to offset the unbearable sensation that the confrontation was pouring over her. She noticed that his disposition was similar to that of a kicked puppy. Gumi bowed her head and held up the bananas.

"I got you these."

"Eating isn't allowed in the library."

Gumi offered Len a blank stare, stupefied at his quick response.

'_Way to go, Gumi._'

"It's a banana. It's not like we're eating a three course meal in here." Gumi ripped a banana apart from the stem. She waved the fruit in her hand.

"Fine, go ahead, you eat them. I'm not getting in trouble over a banana," Len said (because he knew, with his luck, that he would.).

Gumi watched Len's eyes ogle at the pair of bananas in her other hand. She had him baited, but he didn't have his full faith in her. Gumi put the bunch of bananas on the desk while she held her banana.

"Okay."

The fruit, as tantalizing as it was to Len, made Gumi's stomach lurch.

'_I have to eat this shit?_'

Gumi touched the top of the banana and slowly began peeling it.

'_Rin definitely fucking owes me for this._'

Once peeled, Gumi gazed back up at Len.

"Do you want it?"

Gumi blinked. Len gazed at the banana in her hand with interest. Gumi held it up eagerly, relieved. "Go ahead. I'm not that hungry."

Upon Gumi's eagerness, Len frowned with suspicion. "You can keep that one."

Gumi groaned internally. She stared at the fruit regretfully.

'_Jesus Christ, Gumi, it's just a banana._'

Gumi bit into the fruit uneasily. She clenched her hand, unprepared for the mushy sensation in her mouth. Gumi quickly swallowed, ignoring her taste buds' disgust.

"Tastes like a banana." Gumi shrugged.

'_And it was fucking gross, too._' Her brain sputtered back.

Len peeked at the banana placed next to him. "You said I can have one?"

"Sure, go ahead." She nodded eagerly, yet made sure her nod wasn't too enthusiastic, lest she gave the boy more suspicion. The boy carefully separated the bananas on his desk and held one up, staring at it eagerly. Gumi eyed the boy's thin wrists and baggy uniform, and debated if she weighed more than Len. Was he being starved? The thought caused Gumi to scratch her scalp with displeasure. She watched Len begin to remove the peel until he stopped himself and placed it back onto the desk.

"Never mind." He mumbled.

Gumi sputtered, "Why not? You look hungry."

"I said never mind."

"Fine," Gumi snapped, irritated over the displeasure of having to eat her least favorite fruit. Her face softened when she saw the math textbook on his desk. "Math test soon?" She asked.

Len's face darkened at the question. "Yes. I have to study. Do you mind leaving me alone now?" Len threw his head backwards and growled, his frustration finally reaching maximum capacity. "Why are you even talking to me? I told you to leave me alone."

Gumi kept her gaze on the banana. She muttered, "I can help you study."

"I don't think you get it." Len suddenly grinned. He faced Gumi with contemplation. The dark eyes that Gumi had her mind locked on since day one had become darker than a cloud threatening to strike bolts of lightning. "You see, in case you didn't know, I killed my sister. Everybody knows that. I'm sure you don't know that, but, judging by your lack of common sense, I'm assuming that you don't think that I can kill you, either."

Gumi's eyes froze at Len's wicked grin. "You don't mean that."

"Really?"

His eyes battled against hers, challenging Gumi's belief in him. Gumi hissed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry. Forget about it."

"Are you going to tell everyone that I'm a lunatic now? Are you?"

"No, because I don't care enough to." Gumi, with rage filling her face, spun around, picked up her backpack from her desk, and stomped off, anger exploding from each step. Her strut was interrupted by a quick thought. Gumi abruptly threw her backpack to the ground and ripped it open by the zipper. Len watched with raised eyebrows, and slightly cowered when the girl approached him again with a harsh glare, appearing capable enough to harm him. He knew everyone was stronger than him, and therefore more capable of causing him pain, and he prepared himself for it, until a chilled object was thrown into his lap.

"Here. Sorry for bothering you."

Gumi didn't bother to cast him another glance as she walked off, picking up her backpack again during her harsh strut. She threw open the door in front of her and didn't jump when the door clanged against the adjacent wall.

'_What do you want me to do, Rin? Honestly? I can't do it!_'

Gumi shook her head as her shoulders sagged, her backpack beginning to weigh her down. Gumi's strut slowly morphed into a dejected walk. She rubbed her forehead as a throbbing sensation made itself known.

'_I can't do it._'

He was left alone. Len slowly lifted up the object thrown onto his lap. He pressed the bag together and watched the cold blue gel swish around inside the plastic. She brought him an ice pack, a gift worthless for him; he didn't own a refrigerator. But, she brought him something, and more. Len gazed at the half-peeled banana on his desk. Guilt began to fill him; he picked up the fruit and continued to peel it.

'_Shove it in your mouth, shove it- Shove it in there, you filthy-!_'

The mental shouts and intrusive thoughts clanged against the walls of his skull relentlessly. Len tossed the fruit onto his desk again with disappointment. The fruit he once loved was now an object of disgust to him. Len's stomach churned quietly at the sight of the fruit. He was starving. Fruit was a luxury for him, but the sight of a banana only induced his nausea. At least she didn't know why he couldn't even stare at the fruit. Len comforted himself with that thought. No one knew about _that_. If anyone knew about _that_, about the humiliating trials he went through with _him_, then it would only lead to more endless insults. More severe beatings. More scorn. He couldn't endanger his life any more than it was at the present moment.

His lap began to grow cold. Len settled the ice pack onto his desk and observed it while his thoughts ran faster than an Olympic sprinter sprinting his final lap. This was a joke. Yet Gakupo, Miku, nor anyone else had harassed him about talking to that persistent, green-haired nuisance. She had kept her lips sealed from any gossip, a thought that wasn't comprehensible to him. He wasn't worth helping. He was only their punching bag. Nobody helped punching bags as they didn't have feelings. They were simply objects void of any emotion. That's what everyone viewed him as. She was probably just as crazy as he was, if she was, for some asinine reason, willing to help him. Hopefully, she knew how to conceal her madness well. It didn't seem like he had to deal with her anymore, either; she sounded completely finished with him. At least she finally realized how little he was worth.

Len sighed as his back pocket vibrated. He plucked the cellphone out from his pocket and gazed at the numerous texts he had received from his _lovely_ peers. He really had to change his number. Len groaned heavily and gazed at his math textbook, his eyes crumbing little by little at the sight of the book.

'_What the hell is the point?_'

Len tossed his cellphone onto his desk and stared at the hefty textbook, his gaze berating the hardcover. He was close to graduating, so close, but it wasn't going to happen because of a stupid math course. He'd be stuck in Kahiru, and that was the end of it. He wasn't even going to graduate junior high school, just like everyone around him had predicted. Len shut his eyes, his eyelids quivering, until he reopened them and sat up, gathered the bananas, his textbook, and ice pack, threw them into his backpack, and exited the library.

* * *

"Gumi? Gumi?"

Gumi lifted her head up to find Miku walking the opposite direction. Gumi frowned and gazed up at the sky; it was dark, darker than she had hoped it would be. She would be home late- not that Piko cared, and her mother was most likely still working at the hospital.

"H-hey, where are you going?"

"I have to go back to school and get my textbook for math. I texted Yukari to ask if I could borrow hers, but she said she couldn't give it to me at the moment, even though I offered to pick it up at her house. She even said that she finished her math homework! She can be so weird sometimes. Well, whatever, here I am, I guess." Miku puffed her cheeks outwards with irritation. "Did tutoring Macne Nana go okay?""

"Y-yeah. Look, Miku, I'm not feeling well. I haven't been getting that much sleep lately, and-"

"Oh, really?" Miku frowned. "We haven't been pushing you too hard with tutoring, have we?"

"It's not that, Miku. I just...haven't been feeling right. Just sluggish. I'm going to at least get some homework done before I head in for the night."

Miku sighed quizzically as she gazed at the fence beside her. "I have something that might help."

Gumi watched Miku throw open her purse. Gumi stood in the cold awkwardly, lacing her fingers and rubbing her palms together in attempt to warm her hands.

"Found it."

Miku held out a small bottle. She shook the bottle slightly. Gumi listened to the soft sound.

'_Like a maraca._'

Gumi frowned with worry. "Are those...yours?"

"Yeah." Miku tossed the bottle to Gumi. Gumi yelped when she caught the small clear bottle.

"M-Miku, this is yours- God, it's medication, Miku. _Your_ medication!" Gumi exclaimed loudly at this revelation as she held the bottle out with a shaky hand. "I can't take this."

"They're just sleeping pills, Gumi. It's no big deal. There aren't a lot left anyway. I don't need them anymore, so why waste them? Did you know if you toss medication in the toilet and flush it, it gets into the water supply, and then animals end up absorbing the medication? Like, there are male frogs that turn into females because they end up ingesting birth control pills and-"

"Miku. Stop." Gumi rubbed her forehead. "I can't take these. I-I mean, thanks (I guess), but I can't. I don't know what's in these." Gumi lifted the bottle up to find the bottle filled less than halfway with small, white pills. She gazed at the label:

**XANAX. ****INSTRUCTIONS: 1 MILLIGRAM PER NIGHT. 2 MILLIGRAMS MAY BE TAKEN IF NEEDED. DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN 4 MILLIGRAMS WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.**

"Gumi, they're not going to hurt you. I can see the dark bags under your eyes. That's not healthy. Just...take them. Even if you don't end up using them, it'll make me feel better. Just take one a night, and you'll be fine."

Gumi sighed quietly. She swung her backpack to her right side and opened a small gap in her bag to slide the bottle through. She zippered her backpack and gulped softly. "Miku, I don't get it."

"Get what?"

Gumi rubbed her lips together hesitantly, but forced the words out of her mouth. "Why do you hang out with me? Talk to me? Act like we've known each other for years? Why do you actually care?"

Miku's eye's flickered pensively. "It that a bad thing?"

Gumi breathed through her exposed teeth, rubbing them slightly against her lips. "Miku, you know that you're-" Gumi trailed off, then continued once she found the words, "you're much better at life than I am, let's put it that way. I don't even have an eighth of what...what _you_ have. I-I mean, I'm not hideous or a moron- actually, no, I kind of am, when you think about it -but I'm not as pretty as you or as smart as you. I just can't comprehend why you accept me as your friend? I-I appreciate it, but I'm not anything like you."

Miku cocked her head slightly, gazing at Gumi, seemingly bewildered, questioning what she had just heard. Her lips slowly slipped into a frown once her thoughts were recollected, and held a steady gaze at Gumi. "Gumi, I think you're a good person. You're very loyal. I really can't say that about anyone else, well, perhaps Lily, but I can't even say that about Yukari. Sometimes, I can't even say that about Kaito, but that's just because he enjoys being empty-headed. Before Rin died, she was the only other loyal friend I had. I know I can be annoying and dramatic, but, you haven't left my side yet. It's only been a month, so you still think I'm 'amazing', but I can't say that's true. Your judgment is still slightly off. A lot of people think I'm 'out-there', that I'm missing a screw in the toolbox-"

'-_just starts railing her, calling her a slut just for talking to her 'future' boyfriend_-'

Gumi ignored the thought momentarily to focus on Miku.

"-and after Rin died, it was hard to trust anyone. I had the press after me, and- yeah, I got sick for a while, but who could blame me? I was stalked by a journalist one day who wouldn't leave me alone until I kicked him in the dick! I couldn't focus on school, nothing, and after Rin died, it felt like I had no one left besides Lily. I sort of bonded with Yukari, but it's mostly Lily who's best friends with her. I just feel like I have no one. That's not to say that I'm using you, that you're a replacement for Rin- not at all. Yet I figured you could use a friend." Miku paused. "I owe you an apology."

Gumi blinked. "For what? You just said that you aren't using me. I believe you."

The corners of Miku's mouth twitched with complete reluctance. Miku shook her head. "SeeU is my cousin."

Gumi's breath hitched. Her pupils dilated, and the greens of her eyes shook. "SeeU- how do you -how?" She felt her throat tighten as her voice quivered, her body suffocating under her sudden helplessness.

Miku wrapped her arms around her purse, blocking her chest, as if she was using it as a barrier between them, and placed her eyes on the empty street. "It was weird, actually. I saw you and her in some pictures together online, and at a family thing a few months ago I mentioned you, but she told me you guys didn't hang out anymore. She was a bit bitchy about it, too- don't take it personally, Gumi. She didn't mention why, but -yeah, well, when I first saw you walking in the hallways, I did a double-take a few times before I talked to you in gym class. So, I asked SeeU one night if Gumi left her school, and she said that you did. I mentioned that you were in my school," Miku's eyes shifted to the ground suddenly, a gesture that could be taken for guilt, "and then she went on a tirade against you. She said that you had issues -like, a lot, and -oh shit, Gumi, I'm so sorry."

Gumi quivered with her arms crossed over her chest, heaving heavily as she tried to choke back her sobs. Miku rushed closer to Gumi and gently wrapped her hands around Gumi's shoulders.

"Gumi, I'm sorry."

"No, fuck, I'm sorry." Gumi slid her arm against her nose and blinked a few times to reduce the blurriness coating her vision. "Shit, why are you talking to me if you know how much of a freak I am?"

"You're not a freak, Gumi." Miku forced Gumi's head upwards. Gumi shivered at the sight of Miku's trembling eyes.

"SeeU is a bitch. She said all those awful things about you, that you were crazy and that you betrayed her promise, whatever that was. She just went off, and she seemed like the crazy one during her rant. Look: the bottle, those pills…you know that I'm not perfect either. Hell, SeeU said we'd be perfect for each other, because I'm just a mess, too." Miku smiled sadly as Gumi hiccupped. Miku's watched her hands shake at the vibrations of Gumi's shoulders. "She didn't tell me why you left Okinawa, but I don't doubt that you left because of her."

SeeU wasn't the cause, yet Gumi was willing to place the blame on SeeU as long as it prevented Miku from gaining knowledge regarding the true reason she left. Gumi bit her lip and nodded slowly, casting her eyes to the side.

Miku's eyes glittered with sympathy. "I'm so sorry SeeU did that to you. I'm really sorry."

Gumi finally caught her breath and shivered as the last of her energy left her. Gumi shook her head and mumbled, "She wasn't a good friend."

"No, she wasn't. She's not a good cousin, either."

Gumi nodded again, her hair remaining stale against the chilly winds. Gumi pulled a thin green strand of hair from out of her mouth and sniffled. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with that."

"With SeeU? Eh, you get used to it, being her cousin. She can jump in a ditch for all I care."

"N-no, with my blubbering and c-crying. I'm just a crybaby."

"SeeU knows how to twist people's emotions like that. She'll make you care about her, and then she'll rip your heart out and eat it once it's full of herself."

"She was never that cruel to me in person, though. She never flat out told me I was insane, she just...circumvented around the fact." Gumi stared at the fence again, noting the color fading from the wood. "She still ate my heart, though."

Miku smiled, but her eyes contained the sadness in them. "I bet she made you crazy."

'_No._'

"Yes."

They stood for a few moments together, as Miku continued gripping Gumi's shoulders. A car passed by them, creating a slight breeze. Gumi gazed at Miku with brighter eyes to signal her appreciation. The girls parted once Gumi reassured Miku that she would be fine.

"Thank you," Gumi said softly.

"Yeah, it's no problem." Miku rubbed her hands together into a ball. "I think Rin would be happy about me and you, that I'm helping you. You almost remind me of Rin, to be honest. Rin tried to hide behind a facade, too, so people didn't have to worry about her, but in the end, it...killed her. She tried to hide from people how much of a monster Len was, but," The girl winced with pain, as if she was struck in the heart with a nail, "I don't want the same thing to happen to you. At least, I don't want you to hurt yourself. I still hurt, too, after what happened to Rin. You don't forget about stuff like that."

Gumi's nodded with thorough understanding. "Yeah." Gumi noticed that the brightness in Miku's eyes was not as noticeable. "It's really dark now."

"S-shit, the textbook." Miku moaned with annoyance.

"Do you want me to walk you-?"

"Don't be silly." A smile returned to Miku's face. "Go home and rest. Be careful."

Gumi blinked and smiled back at her. "Y-you too."

* * *

Gumi gently shook the bottle wrapped around her fingers. She held the bottle as she sat on her bed, her toes barely an inch away from touching the floor. She squeezed her toes together unconsciously. Carefully, Gumi opened her nightstand's drawer and slipped the small bottle into its depths, hiding it right behind the miscellaneous objects that mingled in her drawer. Gumi shut it with an outward sigh. She couldn't take them. She knew better than that. Gumi repeated these thoughts to herself as she buried herself under the layers of blankets. She rested her head against her pillow and shut her eyes, but her brain remained awake, with words swarming around her head like bees.

'_SeeU is a bitch._' Miku's voice echoed.

Gumi took comfort in the fact that she and Miku weren't too different, but picturing SeeU with a smirk, spewing such baleful words from her small lips, made Gumi almost wish that she had never encountered her. It was rare for SeeU to be so mean-spirited, yet she did gossip often, but more to her other friends rather than to Gumi. She should have taken that as a hint. Gumi wasn't willing to say that she couldn't trust anyone, however. After all, Miku had come to her defense.

Gumi's body relaxed as she began to settle into sleep, but SeeU's name was etched into her mind until she was no longer conscious.

* * *

A small playground, a small backyard, small children, small garden; a large gift. The parents stood on the patio and smiled, gazing at each other with satisfaction, amazed that their love had produced such a wonderful life for them.

The happy mother, after pouring a small bottle of champagne in a crystal glass for herself, wrapped her hand around her husband's. She rested her head on his shoulder and let his stronger body support hers as she watched her children play.

The proud father, eyes glistening, turning his gaze from his wife to his children, pointing to his daughter gently as she pushed her brother on a swing, with all of his admiration filled in his low voice for the girl.

The carefree girl, while laughing her worries away (the nonexistent worries she never had) pushed her younger brother on his swing, shoving her hands into his back to ensure that he'd fly higher into the sky every time. The sleeves of her sweater dangled from her smooth wrists every time she shoved her brother into the air.

The happy boy, giggling through the wisps of wind, his hair flailing in every direction, as if the white strands had freedom of their own, as he watched his feet touch the clouds, but turned his head every time he went downwards to ensure that he'd fall into his sister's hands, the hands he was sure that would never abandon him.

Suddenly the voices became silent. The family froze like a portrait. Their smiles were promptly shattered by a car's loud horn.

BEEEEEEP

Gumi threw her hands over her ears and screamed silently.

BEEEEEEP

She lunged herself out of bed and threw herself onto the floor. She collapsed as she felt her legs liquidize underneath her. She threw her torso onto the floorboards while her palms covered her ears tightly.

BEEEEEEP

"I'm sorry." She shuddered.

She should have gone to the funeral.

BEEEEEEP

"I'm sorry!"

The horn stopped. Gumi slowly removed her hands from her ears while she panted painfully. Her eardrums ringed, as if a horn had actually blared into her ears. She threw her hands into her lap and then bowed her head deeply, her body racking repeatedly with deep sobs. Her wrists twitched and throbbed regretfully.

"I'm sorry."

Apologizing wasn't going to be enough. Gumi knew that she could scream her apologizes over and over, but it would do no good. She had to apologize to her father face to face. To do so, she'd have to cooperate with Kagamine Len.

Gumi glanced at her pillow, where Rin's letter hid underneath, from when they shared their first encounter. Gumi swallowed the lump in her throat and finally accepted Rin's request. The dead girl had Gumi's complete devotion now.

* * *

Gumi felt as if she was betraying Miku.

She walked to the school with the speed of a zombie, staggering numbly onto the blacktop. Len had taken Rin from Miku. Miku was still hurting, even years after Rin's death. Was Rin even aware of Miku's suffering? Gumi's glazed eyes found themselves staring at a gossipy pair of girls. They seemed infuriated, as if they knew themselves what Gumi was up to. Yet, mind-readers didn't exist, nor were the girls giving Gumi any direct stares of disgust. Her self-consciousness still grew, and Gumi buried her wrists deeper into her sweater before making her way to the entrance of the building.

Remembering the sound of the horn sent Gumi into a short, twitchy shock. She concentrated on burying the sound back into the recesses of her memory. Her father had to be her first priority. If she did what Rin told her to do, she could see him again and apologize. Perhaps he could erase the memory of the sound of the car horn as well. But, even first and foremost, she had to relive Len of his suffering, whether he agreed with the idea or disagreed. If the dreams continued to be like the one she had the previous night, then Gumi was afraid to think of what her life would come to. Gumi heard the gasps of a group of students as they walked by her and began to speak in hushed, angered tones, as if they were swearing revenge on an enemy. Gumi raised her eyebrows and wondered if the people around her were actually reading her mind.

"Yo."

Gumi's startled eyes fell onto Lily. Gumi attempted to smile.

"Hey."

"You shouldn't be smiling right now."

Gumi's face easily slid back into a frown as the beat of her heart increased. "I have a feeling that I'm unaware of something."

Lily nodded. "Miku was wondering where you were?"

Gumi felt her blood freeze."I just got here." She walked next to Lily as she watched the students' faces around her become twisted with rage and repulsion as they talked among themselves. "L-Lily, did I do something wrong?"

Lily peered down at Gumi with furrowed eyebrows. "No. Why?"

"Gumi?"

Lily and Gumi turned towards the hunched-over, depressed form of Hatsune Miku. Miku sniffled loudly as she ran to Gumi and let out a sob.

"M-Miku, I'm sorry!" Gumi blurted, her heart racing wildly.

"T-this isn't your fault, Gumi. I-It's that maggot-!"

"Miku, calm down," Lily said sternly.

Gumi's frozen veins began to thaw when she realized that the growing anger on the blacktop was not due to her. She stared at Miku urgently.

"Miku, what happened?"

"You didn't know?" Miku asked with a hiccup.

"You said you were going to tell her."

"It sounded like as if you told her." Miku stared at Lily and then at Gumi. She drearily took her cellphone from out of her pocket. She pressed the screen a few times before presenting it to Gumi. "Here."

Gumi scanned the screen of the smartphone, and the blood that had started to thaw became frozen again.

RE: LEN  
**YOURE CRAZY**

RE: LEN  
**JUST ANOTHER SLUT AND WHORE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE**

RE: LEN  
**GO HANG YOURSELF BY YOUR PIGTAILS, CRAZY BITCH**

Gumi reread the messages until the phone was taken out of Gumi's hands.

"Holy s-shit," Gumi finally said.

Lily's top finally blew as she crunched her foot into the ground. "I fucking hate him!"

Miku wiped another test from her eye as she slid her phone back into her purse. "I've had enough of him."

Panic and disbelief filled Gumi's face. She stuttered in attempt to defend Len, but her attempts were rendered useless at the memory of the texts. "Miku, you need to drop it. Just report this to the office."

The useless suggestion was thwarted by Miku's cry of indignation. "You've seen him act him like an animal now, Gumi," Miku stared at her with exhaustion, "and I'm tired of it." Miku turned towards the crowd of students, as if she was looking for Len. She turned back to Gumi with her eyes filled with a rage that caused Gumi to look down at her shoes. Miku gritted her teeth with frustration as Lily tried to comfort her.

"I'm dealing with him personally," Miku hissed. With her feet firmly planted into the black asphalt, she kept her eyes on the crowd of students, waiting for any sign of disruption in the crowd in order to jump after her prey, all the while Gumi slid against the wall, her stomach caught in her throat, breathing heavily as she witnessed Miku's formerly weary stance transform into the agitated pose of a provoked tiger, ready to pounce and sink her claws into her victim.

* * *

**Uuuh I owe you guys an apology**

**I had midterms, projects, homework, social obligations...all those kinds of 'fun' college stuff. The good news is I passed my exams! The bad news is that I have finals within a month QwQ But, more good news is that I have a month off for winter break and I return to the U.S., so I might be a bit more active during the time from mid December to January.**

**I wanted to post this chapter before I went to Madrid tomorrow, and before my time is eaten up by something else, sooo savor this chapter, if you end up liking it. The major ass kicking takes place next chapter! It's going to be thrilling! And I know that you'll all want to poke me with pitchforks afterwards *w* See you soon~! Thank you for the reviews and for all of your patience!**


	8. Part 2, Ch 4

**Ahahaha I didn't forget about you guys, I promise 0w0; Here you go…**

* * *

Gumi, within the time span of Miku's tantrum and Len's arrival, reeled over Gacha's words, and wished she had paid more precaution to what he said.

Miku stood firmly as the wind weaved through her pigtails. Her strands of teal whipped behind her harshly, the ends of her hair snapping at the wind. Gumi stood in a position opposite to Miku's fierce stance; she hunched against over the wall and scanned the ground, silently wondering what she could do to alleviate the situation, but there was nothing more that could be done. Gumi silently acknowledged the fact that she owed Gacha something for warning her about Miku. Miku's rage was unlike her, and Gumi doubted that this wouldn't be Miku's last outburst- after all, Len hadn't shown up yet. If Len had send her those messages, then Miku had every right to be mad, but Gumi wondered why he would do so. Why would he want more abuse? Gumi wondered if Len actually wanted to be hated.

Gumi gazed from the blacktop surface to Lily, who, while seemingly peeved, was otherwise calmly fixing her hair through the reflection of the window behind her. She envied Lily's tranquility, yet thought of how often Miku's rages had to be in order for Lily to act so calmly around her. Gumi rubbed her forehead, her mind scrambled. She glanced up at Miku again and wondered how terrible the girl must have felt. Miku was enraged to a point where her rage was almost outrageous, but if Len did send her those messages, then Gumi couldn't blame the girl. Gumi, with her back against the wall, still decided to give Miku her space. Gumi knew that her words weren't going to soothe Miku either; her brain was no more concrete than the consistency of jelly due to the previous night's events and the current situation. Gumi put her mind on hold and decided to wait for the outcome. There was nothing more she could do but to wait and see.

* * *

He had slept in late. It was a terrible mistake for Len, who lived far from the school and had no choice but to pace his scrawny legs as fast as he could. Len panted as his cheeks became a searing red. He knew he should have gone to bed earlier that night- and he did -but his brain instead whined over the loss of his cellphone instead of letting him close his eyes. The last place it had been was in the library, yet the school was locked by the time he ran back to the building to try to retrieve it. He prayed that his cellphone was still in its original spot, and that it hadn't been taken, or, more catastrophically, that someone realized that it was his. As much as he wished he could crush his phone in his fist, it was his only way to communicate with the world outside of Kahiru, nor was strong enough to destroy the cellphone with his bare hands in the first place.

He slowed his pace when he saw the school building. He heaved tiredly but kept his head up. His ears caught the rambunctious chatter coming from the blacktop. He grimaced. He didn't like being seen by large crowds. He made it a point to come to school before any other students could come, so he could relax himself before he had to face the usual rounds of harassment for that day.

'_Great._'

He pulled his head downward and stepped up onto the courtyard. He didn't have to look up to see the students glaring at his unkempt hair and baggy uniform. He could feel their stares burning into him already. As long as he weaved through the crowds without attracting any more attention, he would be okay, Len told himself. He'd still be hissed and sneered at, but otherwise, he'd be in good condition physically. He walked through the sea of students as quickly as possible. He didn't bother trying to dissect their whispers. He kept his gray eyes on the asphalt. Despite his attempt to ignore the murmurs, their words grew louder, to the point where it became strange. He cast his eyes upwards and saw crowds of students jeering at him, whispering into the ears of their friends while they pointed at him, with anger and accusations filling their fingertips. The fact that the whole school seemed to have their eyes set on him was unsettling.

'_What did I do now?_'

He was sure he hadn't killed anyone lately, or else he would have been murdered himself by now. Unless _she_ told them. Len snarled to himself; he knew he shouldn't have trusted Gumi. Now that he had angered her enough, he would feel her wrath, but the words of the students surrounding him promised that he would feel their anger first.

"Fucking little creep-"

"-can't believe he actually showed his face-"

"-asking for it."

He gulped. He had done something wrong, except this time, he had no idea what he did to deserve to be 'asking for it', unless Gumi (still newly named the 'green-haired witch' in Len's mind) had actually opened her mouth about what he said to her. Len shivered. That was the only possible explanation. He regretted opening his mouth to her in the first place, even if it did get her away from him, yet he regretted calling her stupid now. That wasn't his best thinking. Len attempted to skim through the students, as some shoved him when he accidentally pressed against him, while others recoiled when their skin touched the fabric of his shirt. He watched the students suddenly separate from each other, as if Moses had parted them like the sea. Len mistook the action as the students' refusal to touch him. He didn't mind; he had his cellphone to retrieve. He shrugged and attempted to make his way into the school building until the presence of another student quickly blocked his way as she stomped down the aisle, causing the students to part further in order to create enough walking room for the girl. Len immediately stepped backwards when his eyes met with Miku's distorted, enraged face. He took another step backwards until he fell over abruptly, his back meeting the blacktop. The students above him laughed and eagerly slapped the hand of the boy who had stuck his foot out.

"Get up."

Len immediately rose as soon as Miku's demand hit his ears. He set his eyes to the ground in order to hide from the sneers of his peers. Polished black shoes met his gaze.

"Do you want to explain something to me, Gaijin?"

Len bit his bottom lip. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The voices behind him rose with outrage, as if they had been personally insulted. Their voices quickly quieted down into snickers when Len was presented with Miku's cellphone. His eyebrows narrowed, Len gazed at the screen.

'_I didn't send those texts. What the hell is she-_'

His breathing halted when he saw that his number had sent those messages.

"Do you want to explain yourself?"

Miku's question hit the air and froze over the school population's whispers. The students seemingly leaned in to hear Len's reply. He stood silently, taking care to breathe quietly as his body became numb, his legs becoming frigid and solid like the ground beneath him.

"I didn't send those texts."

The cellphone was moved away from his sight, and his face was introduced to five well-manicured nails and a heated palm. Len recoiled from the slap and he hunched over, holding his face. Miku had never slapped him that hard in her life.

"Pig!"

Len shivered as the once silent air became filled with jeers and promises of suffering. Miku trembled angrily before him. Slowly, she straightened her back, her eyes beginning to calm. She gently rubbed the red palm of her right hand. She abruptly frowned at her hand. Her nose scrunched up as she let out a small grunt of disgust. She took out a small bottle of antibacterial gel from her pocket. She poured a good amount of the gel onto her hands while the crowd around her and Len laughed with amusement. Len felt himself shrink while Miku rubbed her hands together.

"I didn't realize that you had short-term memory loss, Gaijin. I'm very sorry," Miku said, her 'apology' void of any sympathy, as she tucked the gel away. Her eyes swallowed Len as she stared at him with malcontent. "Perhaps Kaito can jog your memory?"

Kaito appeared beside her. Despite the cheers for him, the blue haired boy's eyes were glued to the ground. Len knew that, if he learned anything in primary school, was that Kaito couldn't even get himself to kill a mosquito. The uncertainty in Kaito's eyes was enough for Len to figure out that this wasn't his idea. Kaito walked toward Len. The weak boy attempted to back away from Kaito's larger frame, until Kaito took him by the arm and faced him. Len shivered and kept his eyes to the ground, ignoring the shouts around him, as he realized the other reality; Miku still had Kaito wrapped around her thin, pale finger. Kaito was going to hurt him.

"Do it, Kaito!"

That particular scream from the crowd was enough to get Kaito to raise his arm. Len shut his eyes and winced, but relax the muscles in his face; wincing only made the pain worse. Within moments he felt the shattering pain, as if a rock had been hurled into his face. He swore that he could feel the left side of his jaw splinter. His shoulder met the ground within an instant, as the rest of his body crashed onto the blacktop. The slow cheers and hollers around him lagged as his mind whimpered from the pain, his brain only clinging to consciousness due to the fear of what would the students would do to him if he was dead to the world. A louder sound broke the cheering. Len sagged to the ground, not bothering to rise to the sound of the school laid limply on the ground while he listened to the voices dissipate. He heard an occasional crunch. Large droplets spilt onto his face. Was rain predicted for today? Len wasn't sure. The voices eventually drowned into the school building. When the silence became full, Len slowly sat up and rubbed his jaw. He slowly open and closed his mouth. The pain wasn't too horrible; perhaps Kaito was being sympathetic after all, but the lingering pain made him rethink such a thing. Len's fingers came into contact with the sticky liquid coated all over his face. Len cringed as he pulled his fingers away. He rubbed his index and middle finger together then pulled them apart, and watched the bubbly thread of liquid form a bridge between them. He groaned. He had hoped it was rain, but God would have been too kind to him to do something like that. God only turned his eyes away when it came to his misery.

"You're lucky that I'm not telling the office."

Miku towered over the boy, her eyes void of the stars that were always present to everyone else. Len leaned on his blows as stared at Miku's shoes. Her malicious laughter stung the air.

"You have something on your face."

Len used his good shoulder to rub away the sliver of saliva that had traveled down to his eye from his forehead. He permitted Miku to continue snickering at him. He should have been glad that Miku wasn't going to tell the staff about what happened, even if he was not guilty of any crime. No one would listen to him. He would be kicked out and tossed away like litter if he brought the school any bad attention. He depended on the school for showers (it was rather unpleasant to shower in the cold rain) and the faulty vending machine in the corridor of the entrance was the only free food he could find. He didn't mind being used by the school as a poor example of a student as long as he could graduate. He didn't mind it when older students pointed to him to younger students and told him that they'd become like him if they didn't do their homework, or didn't join any clubs, or didn't receive good marks on their exams; he had been used for much worse.

"You really are a nuisance, _Gaijin_. You should be rotting away in a cell, after what you did to _her_," Miku hissed loudly, "but I guess the mental hospital realized you were a bigger burden before we all could see it for ourselves."

Len chewed the inside of his cheeks at the thoughts of the text messages. He clenched his fists slightly and unfurled them again as the sensation of needles prickled all over his shoulder. He groaned. "I didn't send those, Miku," Len stated quietly. He realized that Miku wouldn't believe him, and, desperate to get away from the enraged girl, he continued, "but I'm sorr-"

"I know you didn't send them."

Len frowned at what the girl said until his phone appeared in her slim hand, with a manicured nail tapping the cracked screen. He gawked at her.

"You should know better than to keep your trash in the library." Miku snapped. She held up his phone. "Although, I didn't know that maggots could use cellphones. How evolutionary! I'll have to write my next biology paper about you."

Len shuddered as the clothes pierced through his clothing, while Miku clutched his phone. She mistook Len's shuddering for fear and she grinned triumphantly. She glanced at the phone as the top of her lip curled upwards with disgust.

"Hopefully, this taught you a lesson," Miku said haughtily, gluing her eyes back onto Len. She suddenly gazed thoughtfully at him, and said, "Yet I doubt it. You never learn. Maggots are just too stupid to learn anything. Maybe spending time with Gakupo after school isn't doing you any good anymore? I think so."

With that remark, Miku held up the cellphone and kept her gaze on Len's forehead. Len cringed and clutched his eyes shut again all while cursing himself mentally for letting his cellphone get stolen by Miku, one of the people who hated him the most. He couldn't blame her, though, could he? She thought that he was responsible for her best friend's death, and Len knew that, in the end, everything was his fault. Even if a earthquake were to rattle Kahiru, it would still be his fault.

"Miku!"

Len's eyes snapped open at the sight of a girl of short stature and green hair.

'_What is she-?_'

"Miku, stop, we have to get to class."

"Gumi," Miku remarked tensely, keeping her eyes on Len, "this is only going to take two seconds."

"No, Miku, let it go. He's not worth your anger."

She said it so convincingly that Miku began to, after a few seconds of thought, lower her arm. She frowned at Len severely before turning back to Gumi. "You're right," she breathed out tiredly. "He's not worth anything. He's not even worth my anger."

"Let's head back to class, okay?"

Miku nodded quickly, before quickly casting her eyes on Len, then momentarily, at his cellphone. Without warning, her hand snapped toward the ground. Gumi's shoulders hitched as the cellphone exploded. Len stared at the abrupt mess blankly. Without another pause, Miku turned around and began walking to the school. Gumi followed her, but offered Len her sympathetic eyes before running into the school. Len saw, but his face didn't change, as he stared at the ruins of his cellphone.

She left. Len slowly picked himself up and the broken remnants of his cellphone. A distance away, he saw his backpack, crumbled and torn. He grunted as he walked to his backpack. He wrapped his hand around the shoulder pad and dragged it with him into the school. He couldn't afford to miss any more classes.

He had a math test to take, too.

* * *

"Did you see what Kaito did to Len?"

"Yes, I saw."

"You don't sound excited about it? Why?"

"Listen," Gumi groaned, "I'm tutoring practically all week now. It's nothing against you, but the last thing on my mind is how many grams of much protein Kaito must have had to eat per week in order to give Len such a 'powerful' punch. I heard enough about that during lunch."

Gacha sighed, disgruntled. "Yeah, I guess. I still can't believe that _Gaijin_ did that to Miku. She's nuts, but I'd punch him too if he sent me a text calling me stupid."

Gumi nodded silently. "You were right. She's nuts."

"What did she do this time?" Gacha eagerly faced Gumi. Gumi frowned.

"I was referring to how she acted about this whole text-message fiasco."

"Oh." Gacha's shoulders slumped at the lack of gossip. "She really had a reason to be mad, though. She had a right to slap him. Heh, did you see what she did with the hand sanitizer?"

"I saw."

Gacha pouted at Gumi's reluctance to discuss what had occurred. "You need to loosen up. No, sorry, that sounded rude. You just look really stressed."

"I am." Gumi sighed. "I would love to 'loosen up', though."

"Girls like spas, don't they?" Gacha suddenly asked.

Gumi removed a strand of her hair that had caught itself in the corner of her mouth while she closed her textbook. "Uh, sure, I guess."

A sky smile crept onto Gacha's face, but he shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

"Well, it's the weekend. I can sort-of cool down now."

"You sound like you need it." Gacha nodded. "No offense."

"None taken. I'll see you around." Gumi went to wave Gacha goodbye, but stopped and said, "Good job on the math test, if I didn't say so in the beginning."

'_And thank you for warning me about Miku._'

"You did. Thanks." Gacha smiled and waved. He departed. Gumi began gnawing her teeth into her lip and let the pain distract her.

'_Stop doing that._'

She managed to stop herself from completely destroying her overworked bottom lip. She applied some chapstick over the dried cracks. She rubbed her lips together slowly.

'_I have to talk to him. Is he even here, though? He couldn't have come into school after _that_._'

She stopped rubbing her lips and she clenched her hands. It unsettled her how Miku acted for the rest of the day, as if how she treated Len was no big deal. She acted as if he had deserved it. She didn't say anything to Miku regarding the incident- in fact, she kept away from the girl for most of the day. Seeing Len on the ground, with Miku's fist thrust into the air, holding Len's cellphone, after seeing all of that, distorted Gumi's perception of Miku. Gumi was suddenly glad that she didn't swallow any of Miku's pills- only God knew what was in them. She didn't know any longer if Miku's smile was genuine or hiding the rage she seemed to beat over Len whenever she could. Yet Miku's smile always seemed genuine whenever she talked to Gumi. She always talked to Gumi as if they had known each other for years- well, technically, they did, thanks to SeeU.

Everything was very confusing. It was frustrating. Gumi didn't like it.

The doors to the library groaned weakly. Gumi listened closely to the sound of plastic on carpet. She heard it soundly. Len came into her view, and he sat down in his usual seat. She stared at his back. She briefly wondered how many bruises were on the bumps of his spine from the fall he took. She wondered about his arm, too; she remembered watching him fall on his shoulder first. She was surprised, when she had watched him with shaky eyes, that she didn't hear a shatter.

Gumi was completely grateful that she stayed at the entrance to watch Miku. She felt like an idiot originally, as she stayed with the intention to comfort Miku. When the crowd disappeared and she saw Miku standing over Len, mocking him intentionally, her sympathy died. It was hard to speak to Miku as anger peaked inside of her, yet Gumi wondered how much of her anger was justified. Miku truly believed that Len killed Rin, at least, that was what Miku led her to believe. Yet Miku had stated it loudly, proclaiming Len's sins to God as if he was the judge of the courtyard. Miku had thought they were alone, too. It sounded like Miku was unaware, though she had no right to make Len more miserable than he already was, even if Miku thought it was justified. On the other hand, Miku also treated Gumi extremely well, even better than the people who were proclaimed to be her friends, making Gumi feel that her anger was further invalid.

Gumi frowned. '_If only Rin could tell me who the fuck turned her into ash, that'd make this issue a lot simpler_.'

Rin seemed to make everything complicated. The confusing dreams, her hesitation to answer any of her questions, and that carrot cake; none of it was clicking. Perhaps it was still too early for anything to click for her. Gumi's eyes flickered to Len's back again. No one else was going to apologize for the hell he went through.

She stood up and walked. She walked up to him and stared at him firmly. He turned his head, his face still wearing the dull scowl, which made Gumi scowl herself. He was suffering and he wasn't going to admit it. Perhaps that was what had been angering her this whole time, all these confusing confrontations with him, as he avoided her aid and threw himself into his books to avoid discussing his poor image around the school. Gumi felt her cheeks redden.

"Stop hiding your pain."

His eyes stared into hers. She stared back, unwilling to cut her gaze off.

"I'm sorry."

Gumi pronounced those words clearly before him. He continued examining her with his eyes squinted and his lips a firm, pale line. She noticed marks of black and blue slowly swirling around his face, slinking up from underneath his jawbone like waves hitting a patch of sand. She almost slapped herself for taking her eyes off of his.

"Why did you do that?" Len asked flatly.

"Because Miku likes me, for some reason. I knew that she would listen to me, at least, to some degree. I didn't want to see you hurt."

Len pensively stared at the subtle curls at the ends of Gumi's hair. "She likes you," he mumbled. "because you remind her of Rin."

"She, well, admitted that to me. She tried to play it off, though."

"Don't break the image." Len cleared his throat. Gumi raised her eyebrow. "What you did was stupid. She'll hate you more if you don't live up to Rin's expectations."

"But I'm not Rin. I don't care. What she did to you with your cellphone was...fucking unbelievable. Why do you tolerate that bullshit?"

"I don't have a choice." Len seethed, and his face became punctured with anger. "If I act out even once, I will get kicked out, and then I'm utterly screwed. I need to pass, and that's it, and then I can go wherever. Up until graduation, I have to put up with it. You can't do anything about it."

"I can help you pass, though."

"True," Len admitted after a moment. "Considering I just bombed my math quiz, which wasn't a big surprise. I got a five out of thirty."

Gumi sucked her breath in. "How?"

"Didn't you know that I'm stupid?"

Gumi sighed sadly. "I can try. I can try and help you. I promise."

Another silence permeated the library. Len gently touched his injured jawbone.

"You should use the icepack," Gumi advised.

"Oh, yeah," Len bent down to open his back, and promptly threw the icepack at her and replying, "F-Y-I, I don't have a fridge."

"You don't?"

"No, I don't. You don't need to get worked up about it."

Gumi was baffled. "Where do you live?"

"None of your business." Len set his backpack down.

"I'll at least chill this for you. The nurse let me leave this in before I gave this to you. If I tell her that I have some sort of condition-"

"Don't bother. I have a key to the nurse's office anyway."

"Uh...why?" Gumi asked.

"When even the nurse refuses to treat your injuries, you get desperate." Len shrugged. He rolled his eyes at Gumi's raised eyebrows. "Yeah, I know, I suck."

"N- no, I just can't understand why the nurse doesn't even want to-"

"Are you forgetting who you're talking to?" Len snapped.

"But, you're innocent-"

"And who's going to believe you? Even if you think so, no one else does. In fact, how do you know that I'm innocent?"

He stared at her demandingly. Gumi swallowed the growing lump in her throat quietly. She thought over the possible reasons in her head until she decided to be truthful. "Because I know how it feels to be blamed for something you can't handle, for people to stare at you for something that wasn't your fault. I understand it. Why do you think I had to come here? Why do you think my brother doesn't hand around me? Hell, why do you think I don't hang around him?"

Len blinked and rubbed his neck. He began to pick at a scab that had formed and nonchalantly peeled it off. "You want to tell me why?"

"Maybe later. Maybe after graduation."

Len squeezed his lips together and sighed heavily through his nose. "Fine."

"Bring yourself and your math textbook right at this time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

Len snorted. "And what if someone sees us?"

"I can't exactly bring you at my house where my brother can potentially see you. Wait, just- Piko hasn't said anything to you, has he? He's my brother. I just want to make sure he's not part of the problem."

"Piko?" Len maintained his steady gaze on Gumi. "I haven't even heard of him."

"Good," Gumi breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't want him hurting you."

"I can't imagine that he hasn't heard about me by now, though," Len said.

"Since you won't tell me where your house is, though, I guess we're stuck here, aren't we?"

Len pursed his lips together with narrowed eyes.

"I'll bring you food, too. I'll bring you bananas every time we meet. Does that make you feel better?"

Len kept his steely glare on Gumi. "Fine. Also, I tell you what food to get me."

Gumi permitted herself to smile. "No problem. Good boy."

'_Good boy._'

Len clenched the edge of his seat to hold back a shiver from going up his spine. Gumi watched him carefully.

"I'll buy you a new cellphone, if that's still bothering you."

Len slowly scowled with ridicule at the suggestion. "Don't even bother."

Suddenly she was right next to him, tapping on the math textbook. "Don't you remember? It's a Friday."

Len smirked at her as she smiled deviously. "Then where's my food, Miss She-Thinks-She's-Clever?"

Gumi sighed when she remembered. "Yes, I promised. I'll buy you something from the vending machine."

Len almost wanted to mention that the lower shelf of vending machine was reachable, when the lid to the door was opened all the way and when the arm of the stealer was long enough. Fortunately, his arms were long enough. In fact, her arms looked long enough, too, but he was getting tired of eating so many potato chips. "Okay, sure."

"Any special requests?" She asked.

Len frowned. He didn't remember what else there was except for the usual water and chips that was on the lower shelf. "Anything but chips is fine. I'm not in the mood for chips."

"No problem."

She walked across the library, hopping onto the small flight of carpeted stairs. He watched with mild interest, but frowned. She would get tired of him eventually, or at least realize how revolting her was, but if this girl truly believed that he was innocent, then he might as well take what he could get, even if that only meant better snacks from the vending machine.

She decided to get him a package of chocolate pandas, and then purchased another package for herself. She retrieved her snack from the port. She opened it eagerly as her hunger caught up to her. Her eagerness over successfully managing to get the belief of Kagamine Len had caught up to her as well. In a celebratory act, she skipped down the hall as she popped a panda into her mouth. It was unfortunate as to how diminished he looked and how low his opinion of himself was, too, but she could only hope that it would only increase as soon as she managed to help him graduate out of the place he considered a hellhole. Gumi took a second panda out of her small package and slowed down her pace as she stared intently at the panda she held. Its arms were slightly crumbled, and its face was slightly distorted, with its black nose in place of his mouth and his brown eyes slightly off centered.

"I guess we can be screwed up together." Gumi replied to the panda.

She ate the panda, and realized that she and Len shared the poor self-esteem that nibbled them in the beginning of the morning and gobbled them up by midnight.

* * *

Tutoring went okay, Len supposed. He had learned enough fractions and pointless graphs. He occupied his mind for hours with math problems. His brain was now occupying itself with the death of his cellphone.

Len stared at the pieces of his electronic despondently. He couldn't even call it a cellphone anymore; it was officially garbage. Len rubbed the black and blue of his jaw and grimaced. He didn't deserve a phone in the first place, considering he was stupid enough to leave it on in the library. He didn't deserve anything, he repeated to himself, for doing something so stupid.

He sat in his dilapidated, pint-sized 'home', the only place that could protect him from the rain. He sighed when his eye caught the sight of water droplets dribbling down the crack from the ceiling. He dropped the pieces of his phone to the floor, forced himself off from his stool, and walked to his drawer. He jammed it open, looked through the clutter in the compartment, and took out the phone charger.

'_So useless._'

He clenched it. "Stupid!" Len hissed and threw it to the ground. Upon realizing his mistake, he shut his eyes and began to count to three. He couldn't get angry. Anger led to more problems. If someone heard him yelling, someone would find him, eject him from the only home he had, and send him back to the orphanage. Len was determined to never to back there, never again.

She would never find him again.

Len picked up the cord to the charger and wrapped his fingers around it. He decided to keep it, in case it served any future purpose. He forced open the drawer again, only for the drawer to fall out completely and spill all over the ground.

'_Cut me a fucking break._'

Len bit his lip to hold in his bubbling anger and began to pick up his fallen possessions. He shrugged when he found a small bag of chips in his pile of junk. He should have felt a bit more grateful for finding food, but eating salty potato chips every day was beginning to irritate his tongue. He set the chips aside and began to sort out his belongings as he put them in the drawer. Because of his desperate attempts to avoid harm, he always came home with bloodshot eyes. Most of the time, he gave himself the luxury of passing out on his damp blankets. He had forgotten the last time he had rummaged through his drawer.

Len's eyes widened when his fingers came in contact with something thin and rubbery. He quickly pulled it out of the small pile of objects to absorb the image with his eyes.

"Oh my God."

Len quickly attempted to straighten out any bends on the photo and wiped any dirt off the photograph. What he had found was more precious than the chips he had salvaged earlier. Len sat down and looked at the picture with awe as memories of him and the boy in the picture surfaced. He knew it was stupid for him to daydream. He never learned. Len could admit that. Sometimes, it was better for him to daydream and to suffer the consequences later for not being conscious of his surroundings, rather than to live in his pitiful reality. His mind recalled the orbs of neon lights and that floated around his head.

"Len, what do you want to go on first?"

"I don't know, Oliver." The carnival music sang in sync with the turning of the giant attraction in front of them. "I didn't even think we'd get this far."

"We're here, just like we promised. We both have four tickets. Use them wisely."

Len licked his dry lips to rehydrate them as he sweat nervously. "I'm afraid to go alone."

"I thought we planned on going on the rides together? Did you plan on ditching me, Len?" Oliver grinned and bumped into Len's shoulder purposely.

"No! Honestly, I didn't!"

"Len, I told you. You don't need to get worked up." Oliver looked into Len's eyes promisingly. Len watched blues and greens swirl around in Oliver's good eye, brighter than the neon colors that surrounded them. "No one will notice us here. I promise. We didn't take an hour and a half bus ride down here for nothing."

Len glanced at the Ferris wheel. He nodded unconsciously.

He heard Oliver laugh quietly. "Did you want to go on that?"

He watched the attraction circle around repeatedly. The seats of the Ferris wheel swung back and forth excitedly, eagerly asking them to join them.

"Could we?"

"Sure."

Len held the photo of them in front of the Ferris wheel. Oliver had shelled out the extra yen for them to get a picture of themselves. He was thankful for it; it was proof that Oliver wasn't a figment of his imagination. He was real, just as Len was. He was real.

Now he was gone.

Len couldn't blame him for leaving. Life was hard. Life was unfair to people like them. It was only fair to people like Miku and Gakupo, who used their crisp bills and the twinkle of their eyes to breeze through life. Oliver didn't like to think of it that way, but that was the truth. Life would always be brutally unfair to him, regardless of how innocent he was. Life always was difficult for Oliver, too, until he went away. He was probably living a much better life. Life was only a hurdle now for Len. He wished he had left with Oliver, but he didn't have a choice. Oliver left him because Len knew that he couldn't stand him. Nobody could stand him.

Len acknowledged that his soul was blacker than the coarse feathers of a crow. He was far from amiable. His attitude was severely revolting, with a personality so rotten that even decaying corpses would try to lift up their heavy limbs in order to escape him. His eyes held a type of dullness that displeased everyone. His irises were a harsher, unpleasant gray, nearly matching the slate tone of his skin. His lips were thin and his teeth lacked the pearly shimmer that his sister's held; his teeth were plain yet straight, and remained far from a yellow color as he used the bathrooms as school in order to keep up his hygiene (toothpaste was expensive, but a visit to the dentist's was even more so). His hands were cut and rough and exposed his misfortunes. His body was all cut up. Some were due to him, and some were from his schoolmates. His body, in short, was like a bad painting. The Director had said once that he was the 'bad side' of Rin, her darkness; the side that God had ripped from her in order to make her perfect. His birth was a mistake, he was told, a mistake that God forgot to toss away. He hated her, and she hated him, like everyone else did, except for Gumi, yet she would distance herself from him, like Oliver did. Even Rin began to pull away from him once she realized how much of an embarrassment he was. He couldn't exactly blame her. He had been a terrible brother to her. He was in general just an insult to humanity. He was already using Gumi to buy him food- but she was only going to abandon him, and he'd be left with nothing again. He deserved something for all the trouble he went through just to survive.

'_You deserve nothing. Crazy boys get nothing._'

Len felt the picture in his hand and put it into the drawer. He could never get himself to toss it away. He couldn't forget Oliver, even if Oliver had forgotten about him. He had to be grateful for someone, something. He just had to be thankful that he was alive, just like everyone told him. Even, when he woke up hours later from a nightmare involving the person who had subjugated him to his hell, he reminded himself to be grateful, even while he was a sweaty, trembling, and swollen-eyed mess. He reminded himself to be grateful, even when his pain had finally caught up to him and forced him to scream silently. As his jaw burned from being forced open, Len wondered if this was the searing pain that Rin had felt when she was burned to the bone. He then reminded himself again to be thankful for being alive, to appreciate that he was allowed to exist, even if all he wanted to do was the opposite.

* * *

END PART 2

* * *

**Uh yeah. Len got his ass whooped. Whoops / (don't kill me... ..)**

**Anyway, thank you all for the reviews and your patience, guys, it means a lot. C: I'v been busy with college and stuff, so I'm sorry that I'm not updating as frequently, but I hope this chapter gives you some more info about...everything, I guess, haha. Part 3 will be a lot more detailed and have more Rin in it, and will contain more memories/flashbacks. I also know that a lot of you seem to hate Gakupo...but he's honestly not the one you're going to hate the most. I've barely mentioned the people who screwed over Len the most, and in fact, I haven't even mentioned one of the main 'villains' _Scorned_. So, yeah, be a bit more gentle with Gakupo...he's a dick, but he's not as bad as a lot of other characters are going to be. Didn't you just read about what Miku did? Yeah, you should be more concerned with her rather than Gakupo...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Part 3 will be up within a few weeks! owo**


	9. Part 3, Ch 1

'_Just try, Piko. Just try.'_

The words encircled his mind like the small snowflakes whizzing around in front of his face. Piko rubbed his red nose. The weather was doing a good job reminding him that he forgot his scarf and gloves. Piko dug his hands into the sleeves of his jacket and hummed to keep himself distracted, but his sister's words were enough.

'_Just try._'

And how the hell would he do that? Piko asked himself. It wasn't his fault that he and his mother were in Kahiru. It was his sister's. Her words meant nothing, even if they still stuck to him like a cheap sticker on a wall. He was sick of being blamed for all of his family's issues when the blame fell on her. He didn't exist to be a scapegoat. He ended it on that first day of school. He stood up for himself and made his sister face reality. Not that it did her any good; he still caught her at times sulking around the house.

Pathetic was the only word he could think.

It was, however, an astonishing feat itself that his sister managed to befriend the most popular girl in her grade. He wouldn't have cared much, except that her life was beginning to stomp and run into his.

Gacha had begun talking about how Gumi and Miku tutored together. "I didn't know Gumi was your sister."

"Er, yeah." Piko shrugged. For some reason, Gacha became excited over very mundane things. "We share the last name."

"She's tutoring me in math."

"Really?" Piko had tried not to show how he felt and feigned interest, but his fingers had tightened around his chopsticks as he tried to eat his tuna.

"Yeah, you guys are really alike, it's almost creepy."

"No, we're not." Piko snapped as he took another bite of his fish.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way. I wish that I had a younger brother. It would be fun…"

Piko immediately put down his chopsticks calmly and went to the bathroom. If he hadn't left, Piko was sure that he would have stabbed Gacha's eye out with his utensils.

Piko insisted that he and his sister had nothing in common. Gacha's determination to challenge his opinion was enough to cause Piko's hands to shake at the thought. It had begun to frighten him; if he lost control again, it'd make him and his mother look bad. He could admit that robbing a store and getting arrested for it was humiliating, but not as shameful as what his sister had done. Yet Piko found his hands shaking again and in the form of a fist, his mind juggling between Gacha's persistence and Gumi's pleading. He picked up the pebble that he had been kicking along for a few feet and, at first with slight hesitation but then with full-blown malice, threw the pebble at the tree in front of him. The split second of silence that followed soothed him.

"Someone would have thought you were crazy if they saw you."

Piko spun around. He gazed at the two teal pigtails while the girl who owned them weaved her hand through one of them. Piko felt all of the blood in his body rise to his face.

"Hello, Miku," he muttered, unsure of what to say to defend his actions. "I got mad," he mumbled.

"I don't throw rocks like an animal when I get mad. Here, let's sit."

Piko would have walked away at the insult but he found himself sitting on a bench with the girl. He slid his hands into the sleeves of his jacket again once he saw how white his fingers were. It was quiet and Piko began to wonder why he had decided to sit next to her.

'_As long as it keeps me way from there,_' Piko thought as he looked at his left and saw that he only had a few blocks away to go before he would reach his house.

"How do you like Kahiru so far?" Miku asked. She suddenly stared at Piko curiously. "Well, you are Piko, right? Nakajima Piko? Do you like it here?"

Piko began to feel small, as if Miku's eyes were looking for something. The conversation felt like an interrogation. "It's alright." He pulled his eyes away from hers and stared at the empty road. "My sister seems to hang out with you a lot."

"It's true." She chirped. Miku tapped her finger against her lips as she made a quick observation. "Aw, you have the same button-nose like Gumi."

Piko frowned. "I don't look anything like her."

"Don't lie! It's pretty obvious. You're a first-year student, right? You're not tall enough to be any older."

"Yes," Piko grumbled. A silence came between them and Piko rummaged through his mind of something to speak about.

"I'm sorry that that happened to you."

Miku frowned. "About…?"

"About that creepy Gaijin. That he sent you those messages."

"Oh." Miku shrugged and let one of her pigtails rest on her shoulder. "It was taken care of. Thanks for caring, though."

"I'm glad that he's getting held accountable." Piko nodded. "What a piece of shit."

"A lot of people aren't held responsible for the shitty things they do. Since the law didn't do crap, we have to do it ourselves. After what he did to Rin…" Miku shut her mouth and stared emptily at the fading sun.

Piko nodded. Watching the boy crumple to the ground after he was punched was extremely satisfying. One of the upperclassman had told him what he had did to Miku and the anger lurked in him and boiled inside of his stomach until he watched _Gaijin_ be thoroughly punished. He had been tempted to spit on _Gaijin_ like the other boys did but he didn't let himself join.

"Gah, you're so cute!" Miku suddenly filled with life again and she squeezed Piko's right cheek. Piko was reminded of his socially inept aunt who had done the same thing during the middle of his father's funeral as she mentioned how much he looked like him. Then she inquired where Gumi was. Piko had never seen his mother give someone such a dangerous glare in his whole life, his mother's red eyes blazing at his ditzy aunt.

"I wish I had a younger sibling. Actually, maybe a younger sister." Miku's eyes glowed like a lightbulb plopped into a fishbowl.

Piko suddenly felt his head throb and his eyes squinted. Even if this girl was the 'Queen Bee' and even if Piko had made a major fool of himself in front of her earlier that could spell trouble for him later on, he wasn't going to hesitate to prove her wrong. "Do you have any siblings? It's not as wonderful as you think."

"I do have an older brother." Miku's face suddenly filled with annoyance. "He's a bum."

"So is Gumi. All she does is sleep in on the weekends."

"You're so mean to your sister! Geez. Your sister volunteers with me. Don't you know that? We help tutor other students. Also, Gumi is really diligent with her schoolwork and homework. Give her some credit."

"You just called your older brother a bum. For all I know, he could be a hard worker."

Miku laughed. The laugh was laced with ridicule. It made even the smallest hairs on Piko's neck rise. "That's because he is one. I know him better than anyone else does because I'm his sister."

"And I know Gumi better than anyone else because I'm her brother. I'm sorry, but what do you see in Gumi?" Piko asked, feeling flabbergasted.

Miku laughed. "You really are mean. No wonder Gumi doesn't talk about you."

Piko winced but then shook his head slowly. "You're both very different. I didn't mean that in a bad way."

"Oh." Miku blinked unconvincingly. "Your sister is likeable. I know she's the type to hide in the shadows, but I think I'm helping her. She can be funny when she wants to be. She's smart. She can be easily influenced, but I think she'll overcome that. She reminds me of an old friend I had." Suddenly Miku smiled broadly and looked up at the sky. Piko wondered, as he gazed at Miku's marble-like skin, glowing eyes and shiny teeth, if the stars that inhabited space could see Miku from where they were. Piko looked up with her. He thought that Miku had turned to look at him, expecting him to inquire about her said friend, but Piko didn't care enough to ask. It remained quiet for a few moments, and Piko shivered once the cold reminded him again of his gloveless fingers.

"You're pretty nice, actually. You're a lot better than a lot of the boys around here." Miku stretched out her long legs in front of her.

Piko stared at her uncovered legs. "You're not cold?" He stared at a snowflake lingering in the air.

"It's not that cold." Miku shrugged. "Like my brother says: I have a frozen soul." With that statement Miku frowned bitterly and tucked her legs up to her chest.

She looked vulnerable for a few moments and Piko wanted to feel at least sympathetic for her, yet for some reason he couldn't muster up the compassion. He gazed at her for a few moments. He knew that he was very good with reading people, as if the words were written down on their faces. He was good at reading the face of his stressed out mother; the faces of the horny upperclassmen, except for one or two of them, he can't remember who; and he can read the inside of his obnoxious, naïve, cheek-pinching aunt who believes that there is good in everyone. He couldn't read her face, though. The only other face he couldn't read very well either was his sister's, which only makes him want to rip out his brain whenever Gumi gave him that empty stare. Between Miku, Gumi, and the upperclassman, Piko wondered if he was actually any good at reading faces.

"That sucks."

"At least I have a future, unlike him." Miku stood up, stretching as she tried let the stagnant blood in her body flow again. "Tell Gumi I said hi."

"Sure."

Miku suddenly laughed. "I know you won't."

Piko watched Miku rise and walk away coldly, her pigtails jumping in sync with the movement of her body. She's like a robot, Piko thought. He silently hoped that he didn't turn her off; he doesn't want to earn a bad reputation. Perhaps she thinks all brothers are bad, Piko wondered, as Len had killed his sister, and Miku's brother is a so-called bum. The thought only brings him more turmoil; _he's_ the good sibling, not his sister.

Piko walked home and slammed the door on the way in. His mother was working and his sister was actually busy nowadays. During the past few days it was Piko's turn to be ragged on by his mother:

"Piko, you have to start doing s_omething_. You can't lie in your bedroom all day. Blah blah blah…"

Piko sneered and went to his room. He slammed the door again and checked his phone to see that it was dying. He took out his charger and stared at it. Piko examined it, rubbing the gray plastic chord in between his thumb and his index finger. He wondered what it would be like to be able to fall asleep peacefully with a charger plugged into his belly button, filling him up with the energy and determination he didn't seem to have anymore. He was trying in school and he was trying to make friends, yet the only people that have befriended him were irritating. He saw a group of upperclassman beating on _Gaijin_ one day after school and Piko had the urge to join them, to give him his punishment, to shame him and forget that other people like his sister walked free after the destruction they had caused.

'_But where are you going to go if you embarrass your family again with your delinquency? What will you do?'_

For one final time, Piko reminded his conscious that this was all Gumi's fault, not his. Piko collapsed into his bed to sleep, the chord of the charger still wrapped in between his fingers.

* * *

Gumi collapsed onto her bed.

'_Thank God it's the weekend._'

After what had occurred that day –with watching an outcast's face being bashed in and now tutoring that outcast being one of them- had sizzled Gumi's brain and left her feeling numb. Gumi placed her shoes next to her desk, shimmied out of her skirt, and threw off her sweater. She hopped into bed and snuggled into her comforter, not caring that it was too early for her to fall asleep and that she still had to prepare dinner. She had other things to do.

She found herself sitting in that chair again. She leaned back and sighed. Then she realized that she was only in her bra and underwear. Her face filled with red and she quickly looked around for a place to hide behind.

"Hello! I-…did I pick you up while you were still deciding whether to go commando tonight?"

"I-I didn't remember that my soul was transported with whatever I was wearing." Gumi snapped, her cheeks burning at being caught. She groaned and curled up into a ball, hoping that she would shrink.

"Oi, calm yourself, Gumi. I'm not a pervert."

Gumi felt fabric tugging at her wrists. She looked down and found herself dressed in a white nightgown, with floral lace decorating the ends of her dress that barely covered her knees and on the ends of her sleeves.

"Thanks," Gumi said. She peered at the vase of lilies quietly while Rin bounced in front of her eagerly, the girl's dress billowing excitedly as she hopped on her tip-toes.

"You did it!"

"Did what? With Len? That's just the start."

"But you're getting to him. You're beginning to crack him open like a hardboiled egg. You're peeling him like a banana."

Gumi frowned at Rin's simple metaphors. "Thanks."

Rin sat down and leaned her torso over the table, offering Gumi a look of eagerness. "Okay, now that we've managed to peel a piece of shell off of him, you just have to keep his moral high. You need to be there for him. But, it's really all uphill from here. Just keep his nose buried in his textbook and he'll graduate, and then he can get out of that town and live his life."

"But how?"

"How what?"

"Keep his moral high? Rin, it's like asking a bunch of soldiers during the middle of a battle to smile and keep their heads high; he's in pain, Rin. Just assuming that he'll be okay once he's out of Kahiru won't do that much good. Even if- _when_ he gets out, everything he suffered from will still be in his head. And where will he live if he moves out of Kahiru?"

"Okay, Gumi." Rin sighed and folded her hands on the table. "Leave it to me. I know what I'm doing. All you have to do is get him to graduate. Just talk to him. You don't need to hire him a therapist, just talk. You'll do him a lot of good. If he's hungry, just get him food. If he's bruised, help patch him up. Gumi, I know my brother. He's not going to do anything stupid." Rin gazed down at her neatly folded hands. "He feels like he's run out of options anyway. Poor Len…"

Gumi squirmed in the ensuing silence. "I'll do my best, Rin."

"I know you will. That's why I picked you to help him, silly!" Rin smiled.

"…but once this is over, I'll get to see my father?"

"Definitely."

"Pinky promise?" Gumi smiled crookedly as she held out her pinkie.

Rin giggled. She stood up and walked over to Gumi. "I promise." The blonde girl wiggled her pinkie and stretched her hand out until Rin yelped. "Oh no, I forgot to record this conversation! Gumi, wait here."

Rin disappeared, leaving Gumi alone with her pinkie stretched out. Gumi put her hands in her lap and waited for the girl.

"Sorry! Alright, the recorder is on."

"Rin, I really have to ask: do you like what Miku is doing to your brother?"

"Of course not." Rin's eyes widened with horror. "It's horrible, but…Miku's hurt. So is Gakupo. So is everyone else who loved me." Rin rubbed the back of her neck, the pain of her confliction becoming clear. "There were very few people out there who didn't mourn my death and still don't, one of them being the person who killed me, but, besides that, I think Miku will learn. I was her first best friend. I was the only one who understood Gakupo. He'll learn, too. I think Gakupo knows that I'm disappointed in him. I made a lot of people happy." Rin smiled unsurely while she rubbed the locket of her necklace, something Gumi hadn't realized that Rin wore. "I didn't realize how many people I brought joy to. I always thought I was seen as insecure and annoying because of my problems. It wasn't like that. I didn't realize that until after my death."

Rin stared at her silver locket as she rubbed it over with her thumb. She brought her head down, lost in thought, her earrings dangling from her earlobes. Gumi licked her dry lips and chewed on the insides of her mouth until she managed to build up the confidence to speak again.

"I still don't know a lot, Rin. I still don't even know who killed you."

"Which isn't important." Rin huffed. She gazed at Gumi sternly. "This is not a mystery novel. All you have to do is help my brother. Don't focus on my killer. You won't find out until this is all over and done with."

"Right." Gumi bowed her head. "Sorry."

"I don't like what they're doing to Len, Gumi." Rin rubbed her fingers together. "I still care for Miku and Gakupo and the director, even though they all made Len's life hell."

"The director?"

Rin continued, "I should hate them, but I can't. They're people, too. They still love me. They have their reasons for being mad and hurt. They're hurt that Len wasn't brought to justice, and now they think that they're doing justice by calling Len dirt every day. If anyone who lived outside of Kahiru saw Len's abuse, like you did, you'd think that the people there are horrible, but they're still upset. They still think that Len's a jealous murderer, which he isn't. Nothing is going to change their minds now, though, and that's why the only thing I can do is get Len out of there. No, I can't make excuses. I'm just out of options.

"I just want Len to be safe and I just want everyone to stop hurting Len so that they can focus on healing themselves. They all let themselves broil in hatred during the years of Len's trial. They let themselves out of the pot when Len was dropped back into their world. I probably seem like a monster for letting Miku and Gakupo and the rest of Kahiru hurt Len but what can I do? I can't just kill them. I'm an angel anyway. I could hold them in contempt but they were my _friends_. I just still feel like a monster after what they are doing to him, after what I did to Len. I practically set him up for this. I set him into his own personal Hell unintentionally." Rin rubbed her face with her hands. She set her hands down and she stared at the lilies while Gumi rubbed her wrists.

"I understand." Gumi nodded. "Miku genuinely likes me for whatever reason, yet she still hurts Len like that, but I can't abandon her because she trusts me. That, and Miku thinks that I resemble you, and that's why she's clinging onto me. I'd just be causing a lot of strife too if I unfriended Miku. I think that might become a problem, Rin."

"It won't. Just keep her company, too. You'll both be going to different high schools anyway. At least, I'm sure of it." Rin sat up and rubbed her necklace some more. She then slowly slid the necklace behind the neckline of her dress, letting the locket rest on her bare chest. "I think you're good to go. I'll send you off with a memory. I need to release some of the pain…"

* * *

"Len, let's go outside!"

"I really don't want to, Rin…"

"Len, come on." His sister huffed and took Len's hand. "C'mon, off your bed!"

Len grumbled reluctantly as his sister led him from their bedroom and down the stairs. He looked at his sister. Her hair shimmered in the light and her cheeks gave off a healthy glow. Len gazed at his sister's peach hand that was grasped onto his pale fingers. He kept his eyes on the stairs and tried to keep up to his sister's pace as she eagerly ran.

"Rin, dear?"

"A-ah, good morning, Miss Sukone!" Rin beamed at the woman. Len kept his eyes on the floor while Rin straightened her back.

"There is a couple who'd like to see you."

"R-really?" Rin jumped up eagerly.

"Yes." The woman nodded. "Come along. This might be a very good day for you."

The woman grabbed Rin's hand. Rin continued squeezing Len's hand.

"Len can come to, right?"

"Of course. You are a package, after all." The woman gazed at Len and her eyes filled with apathy. Len stared at the ground. "Keep your head up."

Len raised his head at the director's demand and followed his sister and the woman into her office. Len hated her office. The director's office was frequently cold. To Rin, it seemed like paradise, her opportunity to flourish. The small room only gave Len more opportunities to humiliate himself and more fuel for the director to scold him for being unlikeable.

"Do you not want to be loved? Do you want to be stuck here forever?" She reprimanded him one day after a couple had left in a hurry. They had wanted to look at Rin, of course. Once the couple had seen him and the director told them that they were a 'package', their eyes dimmed with disinterest. It happened frequently, the excuses consisting of, "Well, we were just looking for one," or, "We can't afford another." At least one couple was blunt, stating, "We only wanted the girl. The boy looks…sickly." They said it out loud. It didn't hurt Len too much. He was used to being frequently criticized and he was capable of tuning it out. The criticism had been occurring for years. However, he did try to be as good as his sister. He hated seeing her eyes become glassy whenever a prospective couple left. It squeezed his heart worse than when the director berated him. The least he could do for Rin was try to be perfect.

So today Len was determined to keep his back as straight as his sister's and his grin just as wide. He attempted to think of him and his sister in a happier place, in a nice home with their own bedrooms, where he could be free from the criticism that was heaped onto him. He was glad his sister wasn't able to bring him outside; while the children played and chatted with Rin, Len usually found himself isolated. The older boys prohibited him from playing on the wooden playset with them, leaving him to sit on the edge of the sandbox. He knew he wasn't fun to play with in the first place. His introverted behavior hadn't made him popular with the other children.

Len smiled just as broadly as Rin when they both saw the couple. Of course, Rin introduced herself first, and then Len was lucky enough to get his name in before Rin began chatting with them again, repeating to them her accomplishments with a hint of humility, just as she did with all of the other prospective parents. Len could see the desperation behind the staged twinkle in Rin's eyes, as she yearned for a permanent home. So did Len. Before Len could speak about his own personal achievements, the director had ushered the twins out and closed the door behind them to speak with the young couple. Len's small body filled with aggravation.

"Rin, why didn't you let me talk?" He snapped.

The girl withered under her brother's stare. "Y-you didn't even try, Len. I felt like I was trying to speak _for _you at times…"

In between the slits of the plastic curtains, Len could see the director's red face. He felt his heart sink into his stomach.

"I just felt that you didn't give me a turn. It doesn't matter. I'm never going to be adopted."

"Len, please don't say that." Rin begged. "I wouldn't leave without you. You're the only one I have."

Len stared at the wall. "No, I'm not. You have friends. Even the director likes you."

"N-no, Len. We're the only family we have. That's what I meant."

A yell was smothered by the glass panes. Len looked through the slit again to see the director perspiring. She opened her mouth and Len felt the instinct to cover his ears. He heard her loud scream filled with pleas, and Len watched Rin's eyes crumple and her small lips split open out of disbelief.

"N-no, she wouldn't do that. She didn't say that, Len. No, wait, no-!"

Len ran off. He ran down the halls and up the stairs and down and down the infinite hallways with the wooden walls and he felt as if the house wanted to keep him trapped inside. He couldn't find any way out. He turned toward a window and his mind hastily wondered if he would survive if he jumped out.

"Len?"

Len mistook the voice for Rin's and told her to go away. He rested his head against the edge of the windowsill and his eyes burned and watered.

"I told you. I was right. People only want you. They'll give you more money to have you rather than have me."

"Len, it's me."

Len turned around and whimpered. "S-sorry, Tei. I didn't realize…"

"It's okay, Len. Do you want to talk?"

Len wondered why the director's daughter would have ever wanted to befriend him. Everyone else despised him, more or less so because the director's word was like the word of God's, and because of his frequent sickness and anti-social personality. None of the other children took to Tei very well either, as she was the director's daughter. The orphans and the abandoned children only smiled at her while inside they were too jealous to befriend a loved child. Whenever Tei had her gray locks turned towards the children, their sugar-coated words became unraveled and exposed.

"Spoiled."

"Weird."

"Annoying."

Len figured now that it wasn't a strange thought now: they were a perfect fit, the two outcasts. Tei and Len sank to the floor, their backs pressed up against the wall, as Len vented to the girl.

"I try to be good. I just don't think that I'm loveable." Len finished with the sniffle of his nose. "I just want to get out and be with Rin, but people only want her."

"I'll be here for you, Len. I'm your friend."

Len smiled and both children sat in silence.

Tei sighed. "I was looking for you, actually. I was just downstairs, and I saw my mother with the couple," Tei said. "Rin was with them, too. She was smiling."

Len looked up at Tei anxiously. "W-was Rin-?"

Tei squeezed her lips together and nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, Len. I wasn't sure how to tell you-"

"B-but she said she'd never leave me!" Len exclaimed loudly, his heart beating crazily and he felt tears dribble down his chin.

"But that's why I'm here, Len. I've always been here for you. Sometimes blood isn't thicker than water." Tei wrapped a hand around Len's. "She wasn't going to wait for you, but I will. I promise."

"You don't understand, Tei. She's my sister." Len's voice cracked. Tei watched Len's eyes crack. He was cracking all over. "She was supposed to be there for me."

Tei's eyes darkened. "Len, nobody likes the truth, but I'm being honest: Rin was never going to wait for you. She was tired of it. Len, don't cry, this wasn't your fault."

"I-I can't believe that." Len groaned pitifully as Tei's brutal words were pressed into his head. "She's my sister. My sister…she's leaving me."

Tei hugged Len close, wrapping her thin arms and rubbing her hands along Len's bony back. She trailed her fingers along Len's spine. "This is what my mommy did once when I was upset," she whispered. "Sometimes I wish she did it more often. It makes me feel better."

They two sat in silence for another moment.

"Tei, why doesn't your mother like me? I know that I'm boring, but I try to be good. Am I that unlikeable?"

Tei remained quiet. "Sometimes, I think mommy likes Rin more than me. I'm surprised she's sending Rin away." Tei tapped her fingers against Len's neck before sighing. "I think she'll always love coins more than anyone else. She always yells at me whenever I try to put a few coins into that water fountain in the mall."

"But how can she love money more than people?"

Tei shrugged. "Maybe that's what her mom and dad told her?"

Len separated from Tei slowly. "I-I have to find Rin before she's gone forever."

"Don't be rushed, Len. It takes a long time. The parents have to fill out a lot of papers and give a lot of money before they can have the kid they want."

"I still have to see her. I have to ask her why."

Len ran to find his sister. Tei followed him from a distance. She watched Len run into his bedroom. She slid up against the wall next to the door of the bedroom as soon as she heard Len screech. Tei listened to his sister try to justify herself before both siblings sobbed loudly. Tei knew it was wrong to smile, and she covered her mouth with her hands as she attempted to contain her giggles.

"Thank you." Tei smiled warmly as she gazed at the ceiling and thought of Len staying in the orphanage with her. He'd keep her company. Now that his sister would be leaving, she could spend more time with him. As much as she tried to be nice to Rin, Tei did not like her. Why did Rin deserve more attention from her own mother? Tei knew that it had to be illegal. Tei didn't see anything special in Rin.

"Why would you leave me? Why?"

"Len, listen…"

Tei pressed her head against the wall and smiled as Rin struggled to redeem herself.

"Len, I tried. Miss Sukone said that my new parents are paying a lot to have me and that this is my best bet. T-they seemed to have already shook hands on it too before I got to say a thing. T-the people are really nice, too. I'm sorry, Len, I tried."

"I tried hard to be good. Why, Rin?"

"B-but Len, listen: the people- my parents said that you can visit me whenever, and I asked them if we could go to the same school together. They said they could try. I don't want lose you either, Len. I'm so sorry."

Rin wailed and Tei's smile vanished. Tei peeked over the wall to see the twins embracing each other, grasping each other as if the world was ending. She scowled and sat against the wall, mildly irritated that Rin wasn't going to leave Len alone as she had hoped. The girl was too nice and Len was still extremely attached to his sister. Tei continued steaming in her discontent as she picked at the ends of her hair. She thought how, at least, Len would still be living with her. However, Len was still determined to be at his sister's side, and the thought of it made Tei grasp at her knees angrily and dig her nails into the skin.

* * *

Gumi exclaimed a jumble of words as soon as she awoke. She rushed to her desk and searched for her notebook. She found it and ripped it open. She grabbed at the pen closest to her and scribbled in Tei's name. **POSSIBLE MURDERER SUSPECT**, she wrote in large letters on the header of the page. Gumi's heart raced as she thought of Tei: Had she seen this girl before? Did she go to the same school with her? Perhaps she was already in a mental institution for stalking someone else? Gumi took out the seat from under the desk and sat as she scratched her scalp, watching the green strands of her hair fall sloppily over her face. She pushed her hair back and listed other possible suspects mentally but struggled doing so. Miku was best friends with Rin and still put her on a pedestal. Gakupo admired Rin. The director couldn't have, as she loved Rin more than Tei. Yukari didn't move into Kahiru until after Rin's death. Gacha didn't seem to have the ability to plan out such a thorough murder plot (no offense to him). Lily just didn't seem very likely. Gumi thought about Gakupo's posse, yet she didn't know enough about any of them.

Another thought crawled into Gumi's head. She recalled the scent of vanilla and Rin's glassy eyes. No wonder Rin feels responsible for Len's fate, she thought. The director practically sold her, separating her from Len: the first dent in their relationship. Gumi tapped the pen against her notebook and gazed at her window, staring at the streaks of frost that had covered her window. She looked at Tei's name on the lined paper and wondered if she really could be asuspect (She wondered if Len was still friends with her). Rin had even told her that she wouldn't discover the killer until the end.

There was a knock.

"Come in."

Gumi's mother stood at the door. "Morning. I have to head to work. Just make sure you make lunch for Piko and dinner for everyone tonight."

"Oh, geez, I didn't mean to fall asleep so early last night."

"That's alright, I was able to get home a bit earlier." Gumi watched at the crow's feet that formed next to her mother's eyes when she smiled. "Hey, I haven't seen that nightgown in the wash. Is that new?"

Gumi yelped as she stared down at the nightgown she was still dressed in. "M-Miku got it for me. She's a friend. We both do tutoring. She knows that I sleep a lot, so…"

Gumi's mother chuckled. "That was nice of her. We'll have to look for something for her, too."

"Yeah. I've just been busy with tutoring lately. I have more students to tutor now."

"Make sure you don't end up killing yourself over it, okay?"

Haku throws her hand over her mouth a second too late. She stares at her daughter while her daughter stared back blankly.

"I didn't mean that, Gumi."

"It's okay, mom. I really didn't notice until you made a scene about it…" Gumi trailed off and let her eyes settle onto the floor. The ambience was too tense and awkward to fill in with words now.

"I'll see you later, Gumi." Then her mother mumbled another apology before walking away, slowly closing the door behind her.

* * *

"How was your weekend?"

Len shrugged while Gumi hands him a pencil. "I survived."

Gumi laughed, albeit a very tiny laugh, not sure whether or not if Len was being literal. "Well, today's a treat. We're learning about- okay, first, a drumroll."

Len rolled his eyes. "We're in the library. Do you want us to get caught?"

"Er, sorry. We're learning about slope form."

"Speaking of treats, where's my snack? And my bananas?" Len raised an eyebrow. Gumi suddenly seemed deflated. Guilt began to seep into Len and he muttered an apology. "I'm just hungry. I really haven't eaten all day…"

"I'm really sorry, I forgot. I'll grab you a snack right now. What would you like?"

Len tapped his pencil against the desk as he thought. Gumi stared at the fresh thin cut on his chin while he did so. The thought of Tei reappeared and Gumi decided to do her own research first before asking Len anything.

"Something sweet. No chips though, please."

The 'please' made Gumi feel slightly better. "I'll get on that."

Before she can rise from her seat Gumi's eyes widen at the flash of pink walking behind the aisles of shelves located in front of the teenagers. Gumi watched the librarian disappear behind each shelf and then reappear repeatedly, until the librarian was to far down for Gumi to see.

"Do you think she saw us?" Gumi asked, flashing Len her anxiety-filled eyes. On the contrary, Len was still in his seat, playing with the pencil Gumi gave him.

"She's the only one who leaves me alone."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't think she really saw us. She really doesn't care about me, either."

Gumi offered Len a sad stare. Len frowned.

"Stop pitying me."

Gumi's face flushed. She quickly stood up and left the library to buy the snacks. She watched the librarian type on her computer before she left.

Luka looked up at the door of the library and watched it close. She permitted herself to let out a shaky sigh before continuing with her typing, but it didn't take long for her to realize that her fingers were shaking. She convinced herself that she was cold and Luka grabbed her blazer that was resting on her chair and wrapped it around her.

Gumi reentered the library, her arms filled with snacks. Luka pretended not to notice and listened to the girl walk back to Len. Luka attempted to focus on her work and began stamping due dates on library books until she heard the door of the library swing open.

"I think I lost my textbook in here. Do you have it?" The student asked her.

"N-no." Luka shook her head rigidly.

The student sighed. "Can I check?"

"No. Wait here. What book is it?"

"It's a biology textbook."

"Fine, wait here patiently."

Luka ignored the student mutter how Luka was a whack-a-doo and she set off to find the book. She spotted it on the table, only a few tables away from Len. She quickly grabbed it and felt her hair swish over her shoulders as she made a sharp turn and walked back the student.

"Thanks."

The student walked away. Luka slumped into her desk. Her heart was beating wildly, as if she had just robbed a bank or, even worse, shot the emperor. Luka, however, knew that what she did was worse than shooting the emperor. She felt as if she was covering up a prostitution ring. Luka shivered.

Her blanket was being unraveled. Luka wondered if it was time to panic yet.

* * *

**IT IS DONE**

**Okay, to prevent any confusion: The director is Tei's mother. Tei is not the director. I hope I didn't confuse you guys at the beginning of that flashback?**

**Okay so an apology: 1) The chapter is fudged up and the tenses are all screwed up because my writing is bleh 2) College got the best of me and 3) I've been dealing with personal stuff. I know I can't make excuses, so the best thing I can say is that I've been working on a number of other things.**

**I've also been giving Scorned more thought and for the past four months since I've updated it's been transforming into something else separate from Vocaloid. I'll do my best to finish the story on here but I might rewrite it one day with OCs and other stuff that doesn't fit in this story.**

**I'm really sorry for the delay. I just wanted to get this to you guys before I travel again. Hope you're all doing well. Also, welcome new readers! Don't worry, this story isn't dead. It isn't dead until I say so.**

**Sorry if this chapter is boring. It's just an intro to the other shit that will go down…as per usual. See you all later! Thank you so much for sticking around, guys! I appreciate it! I also might be editing this chapter since it's three in the morning right now and I can't think straight. I'll let you know. Also let me know if something is off in the story. I would hate to make a continuity error and not realize it. I don't want to confuse anyone!**

**Okay, thanks again!**

**EDIT 5/10/2015: Fixed edit that could have potentially confused readers. I also fixed other grammatical errors and misspellings.**


	10. Part 3, Ch 2

**I tried so hard /sobs**

**Thanks for the support, guys! Also, **_**please**_** don't kill me over this chapter.**

* * *

The bare branches waved idly in the wind. Piko counted the small patches of snow that were littered over the stiff, frost-glazed ground. He temporarily tuned out his teacher as he looked out the window. Piko thought over the last two weeks: how he watched the students pour their frustrations and punishments out onto the scapegoat and how Piko, with extreme restraint, would turn his cheek the other way whenever he remembered his old life filled with trivial misdeeds and his mother's solemn eyes. His fingers still shook whenever his anger was brought to a quick boil and his mind reeled over the injustices he faced in Okinawa, yet he would not ruin his reputation in Kahiru.

Not that he had much of a reputation. He had a few good friends and acquaintances. He was a normal student, nothing beyond that. Yet he noticed that even students whose names barely brushed upon the lips of popular students took advantage of Gaijin, snickering at him whenever he passed them and occasionally calling him some crude names. They were never condemned for their actions. The nameless student could walk away without comment, gloating in their moral superiority. No one in the school had the same ignominious reputation as Gaijin did.

'_If they can get away with it_," Piko thought, "_then why do I have to force myself to sit on the sidelines?_'

The loud bell rattled through his body. Students got up from their seats and helped clean the classroom. Piko did the same and gathered his belongings when his chores were finished. As he slid his backpack over his shoulders, he thought about the homework he had to do and his other mountain of responsibilities. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he would even be able to sleep tonight. His new school had been more difficult than he anticipated and he felt incredibly behind, but Piko was trying to convince himself that he wasn't dumb. He had to at least put on a mask of intelligence. He couldn't disappoint his mother. He needed to keep a clean reputation.

He heard a loud commotion. A few lingering students ran to the windows, laughed at the spectacle, and darted out of the classroom. Piko followed them, unsure as to what they had seen. The students that had watched from the window laughed as they exited the campus. Piko stood at the entrance while he watched a decent sized group of students pelting things at- who else? Piko wasn't sure what they were throwing but he saw the boy running, running away from his punishment like an escaped inmate running from the searchlights trying to swallow him. Piko felt all of the heat in his body rush to his head and he dug his fingers into the straps of his backpack. He threw off his bag and the weight of his responsibilities fell with it. He felt as if he had been fed a pack of batteries. He sprinted. The pack had already swallowed up the boy again when he caught up to them. Piko watched and panted, his eyes wide and his hands clenched.

"What are you doing standing there? Piko, right?"

Piko shot his head up to find an upperclassman staring down at him. He tossed Piko something. He grinned.

"Help us clean up the gaijin."

The upperclassman patted him on the back. Piko nodded and walked over to the pack. The boys turned their heads and smiled, as if they had been waiting for him. Piko brought the object up to his nose as he walked. It smelt like the liquid soap his mother bathed him in when he was younger. His mother would sit with him in the large tub while the bubbles rose up to his chin. The bar of soap smelt like some kind of flower, he just wasn't sure which one. Piko felt his limbs become weak yet he maintained a firm stance in front of the boy. Piko stared at the soap in his hand.

"Why are we just using just soap?"

A cold wind blew through the boys' hair. The group stared at Piko expectantly. Piko raised his eyebrows at them.

"Don't you wash the soap off with _water_?"

* * *

Len hadn't show up for his lesson yet. Gumi tapped her fingers against her notebook and stared at the clock, tacking on another minute to the counter in her head, making Len seventeen minutes late to his latest session. Gumi wondered, during the past few sessions, if she had said something unintentionally degrading to Len that made him decide against seeing her this evening. She reflected on their past conversations: she made sure that she didn't pity him and she strayed away from asking the boy any personal questions. Gumi supposed that she was doing a good job since Rin hadn't made an appearance since that night two weeks prior.

Gumi made the effort to look for Len once he was twenty minutes late. She wandered down the halls, jogged to the top floor of the school and looked out the window. The blacktop was bare. She frowned. From there she looked into the classrooms of every floor. She continued searching for him until she had peered behind every door. She decided that Len had bailed on her and perhaps wasn't feeling well. She then thought of worse scenarios and sighed anxiously. She decided to wait for him in case he did show up, and she dragged herself back to the library.

Suddenly she was sliding. Her tailbone burned. Gumi wailed from the pain and rubbed the lower end of her back. She looked down the hallway, the floor decorated with puddles. Gumi managed to stand up again after a few minutes of complaining and walked next to the puddles.

'_Did it rain in here?_'

She heard a distant squeaking noise. Gumi paced herself.

"Hey? Hey!"

The boy was a human mop. His hair clung to his face, droplets quickly dripping off of him as if they were desperate to get away from him. Gumi made a gesture of exasperation as Len stood in front of her.

"What the hell happened to you?" She asked. "What did they do to you?"

Len's teeth chattered. "They gave me a shower."

"Goddamnit, I'm-" she stopped herself from apologizing as it wouldn't do Len any good. "Were you seriously about to go outside while you're as wet as a sponge?"

Len scowled. "I didn't think I'd be let into the library soaking wet. There was no point in going today. Sorry that I didn't inform you."

"I don't care about that. I was concerned about you. You're going to get sick if you go out like that."

"What choice do I have? I don't have any other clothes. I don't have a towel. I don't have shit."

"Alright, look," Gumi rubbed her hands against her face with frustration, "how far do you live from the school?"

"An hour."

"I live about twenty minutes away," she said.

Len stiffened. "I can't go over your house."

"Do you want to freeze to death? You won't make it back home. _Len_, for the love of God, just let me get you a towel and into dry clothes. No one is home, I promise. My mom works long hours and my brother either doesn't get home until late or he holes himself up in his room. We can just hang in my room. My brother doesn't try to get in. Len, _please_."

Len shuddered in his damp clothes as a droplet of icy water slid down his neck, and while the desperateness of the girl's voice would have made him suspicious, the cold was weakening his ability make any rational decisions. The girl continued to implore him until he let out a sound of annoyance.

"Fine!"

Gumi ran back to the library to gather her things and left the school with Len. She frowned at the squishing sound Len's shoes made.

"If you want, we can take the backroads, so that no one can see you."

Len scowled knowingly. "Fair enough. It wouldn't be fair to you if we were seen together."

Gumi sighed. "It's not that, it's-" She stopped and said, "Let's get to my house and I'll take care of you."

Gumi sauntered off into the woods. Len followed her. About ten minutes into the walk his heart began to flutter and his stomach became hot and achy. Gumi emphasized greatly how there was no one in her house, yet he could envision all of the students' dark faces waiting for him in her living room, turning their head towards him when they looked up from their phones or from the television. Then Gumi would grab him as would everyone else and pull his arms and legs in all directions, snapping his bones and distributing Indian burns to him arms. Then they'd throw him out into the woods onto the cold ground and leave him there. And only God knew what would happen after that.

Len let Gumi walk up to the door while he stood a few feet away. Gumi took out her keys. She looked to her side and saw Len distancing himself from her.

"What are you doing?" The keys jiggled.

Len shrugged. Gumi sighed at Len's behavior and shoved her house key into the lock and opened the door. Len looked into the doorway, moving a few feet left and right to check all the angles. He took his time going inside the house while Gumi had already taken her coat and shoes off. She put on her house slippers while offering Len a pair.

"What's wrong? Do you think I have a bunch of people in here waiting to wring your neck?"

"No," Len snapped as his eyes darted from left to right. He was in the kitchen now, and on his left was the entrance to the living room. Len kept his eyes on his left. "Can I just get a towel?"

Gumi frowned; Len's hair was mostly frozen and his clothes were stiff. "Please take a bath. I think that'll help you warm up faster."

"Fine."

Gumi led Len up to the bathroom. She gave him bathroom accessories, towels and some of Piko's older clothes that she knew he wouldn't miss (Gumi made sure that she left Piko's room exactly as she had found it, at least, she did so to the best of her ability).

"Are you sure it's okay for me to use your bathroom?" Len asked.

"It's fine. If I wasn't fine with it, I wouldn't have invited you over. And see, look." Gumi opened the bathroom door to prove her point. Len nodded and tapped his bare feet against the tiles.

"There's no one here that's going to see you. No one is hiding. It's just you and me. Take your time. I'll wash your uniform for you if you leave it outside before you bathe."

Gumi left Len alone. Gumi went to her room to put her backpack and coat away, and she came back to find Len's damp uniform next to the bathroom door.

"White you're in there, I'll make us some food," Gumi said loud enough for the boy to hear. She went to the laundry room to wash Len's clothes. She frowned at the faded stains and put in a hefty amount of detergent. Soon after the laundry she was boiling noodles and putting frozen snacks in the oven. She realized that she had to make dinner for her mother and brother. She took out some fish from the freezer. Before she touched the fish, she turned on the radio. A familiar song filled the room. Gumi took out a knife and hesitated slightly before singing along, letting her shoulders lax as she dipped the fish in seasoning.

* * *

He stared at himself in the foggy bathroom mirror. He traced a finger over the lines that grew over him. The long, tan roots dug into his legs and wandered over the rest of his upper body. Some of his roots were small, others cascading around his torso.

Violet splotches covered his back and chest. Rin liked flowers, but she wouldn't like the ones covering his body. They were ugly flowers, but they were for her. The violets that covered him were homage to her, an acknowledgment of her unjust death. They all dug into his body for Rin, to let her know that her death wouldn't go unforgotten and that her brother would never go unpunished, as long as Rin's name was still kept alive.

Len traced the lines and cracks on his skin, trying to recall how he received each one while the warm fog in the bathroom surrounded him. He gazed at his right shoulder and blinked at the brown marking that covered his skin like dusty soil. The director had settled and patted the soil into his shoulder with her hot iron after catching Len trying to sneak food from the pantry. The blossoming flowers on his skin doubled over the past few days from recent beatings after school. Len put his fingers over the two dents in his lower neck that resembled a bite from a wild animal. He instead focused on the faded lines on his upper neck and chest from when a girl had accused him of stalking her and decided to defend herself. Then her friends helped her. It took him a good five minutes to escape them, he recalled.

"What happened to you?" Oliver had asked him when Len trudged through the front door. Streaks on blood covered Len's chest.

"Nothing unusual for today."

Oliver shook his head wondering why Len was targeted by his peers so frequently. Oliver was the only one in Kahiru who was unaware of Len's misdeeds. When Oliver found out, he ran off. Len wasn't surprised. Oliver had to hide himself and being with Len risked Oliver's well-being and Len knew that he wasn't worth the risk. Len still felt guilty that Oliver let him keep the shed. He never thanked him for that.

It had been awhile since Len had seen his reflection in the mirror. He grazed his ravished fingertips over his sore ribs that stuck out of his body. If he lost another pound his ribs would likely rip through his thin taut skin. Then, people would find a way to stitch him up again and remind him that, before he could rot in Hell forever, before the final days of the universe could come about, before everything could collapse in on itself and become a blank slate again, he needs to experience Hell on earth first before the devil can break his red hot hand through the broken cracks on the earth's surface and pull Len down into his fiery abyss (The villagers of Kahiru were, and still are, slightly afraid that the Devil will be too kind to Len, just as the court, in their eyes, had been to him). Recently, the punishments had been severe enough for Len to give up his thoughts of buying a razor blade, his idea to create deep roots that would never heal. They would only find him again, though. They'd stitch him up and then beat him for even thinking that he had free will.

He stared at his dull complexion, covered with violets that only rotted to black, marks that never faded away, and dry soil that resulted when his scabs flaked off too soon.

"Len, are you almost done?"

Len nodded at the soft question. He threw on the shirt and pants Gumi gave him and swung open the door. Gumi jumped, not expecting his sudden appearance.

"I made you food," she said quietly. "Well, there are snacks out, but the fish-sticks are still in the oven..." she trailed off nervously as Len continually stared at her, mistaking his stare for apathy. "I had to make dinner for my family, too."

Len noticed her discomfort and set his eyes to the floor. "I appreciate it. I really do."

Gumi's eyes brightened. "O-okay, good. I think you'll like them- the fish sticks, I mean. I also made noodles and other little things. We can eat in my room. I set us up a table."

* * *

They kneeled in front of the table, each teenager sitting at each end. Gumi glanced up to see Len eating his food quickly, yet too quickly. She was afraid to interrupt him during his meal; he was eating as if this was his last.

"Be careful, you might get heartburn."

Len's ears became red and he set his chopsticks down. "Sorry." He picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

"I don't want you to be sick. Eating that fast isn't good for anyone." Gumi smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. She wondered when was the last time Len had eaten, based off of his current eating pattern.

"I probably look like a slob." Len muttered. He wiped his mouth with his napkin.

"Trust me; no one eats sloppier than Piko."

Len stared at his bowl of rice then at his plate of fish sticks as silence thickened between them. He picked up a fish stick and then set it back down. "Are you still tutoring me tonight?"

Gumi looked up with surprise. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to take a break today."

"I guess we can. You don't have to tutor me if you don't want to."

"I don't mind. You just seem run-down."

Len shifted his chopsticks through the rice. "You don't have to tutor me. It's fine."

"I said that I don't mind. We can start after dinner."

He grimaced. "Just don't bother, I know that you get frustrated with me anyway."

"Since when? Why are you being a sourpuss to me?"

Len threw his hands up. "God, why bother?"

Gumi's impatience increased. She pressed her lips together tightly. "Len, why are you acting like this? What's going on?"

"I don't need to tell you shit. Let's be honest: I'm not going to graduate. You can't do anything for me."

With those words Gumi's heart began to thump and her face became redder with every heartbeat. "How? I've been trying so hard! Did someone threaten you? Len, who caught us together?" Gumi's eyes widened with terror. "Is that why they threw you in the shower today?"

There was a loud noise which prompted Len to shoot up and race around the room.

"I have to hide, I have to hide," he repeated several times before Gumi ushered him into her closet.

"Sorry about this. Just don't worry."

Len nodded, his eyes shifting nervously as he crammed himself into the corner of her closet. Gumi shut the closet door. She eyed the slits on the door and made sure that Len couldn't be seen. The knocks on her door became furious.

"Hold on!"

Gumi quickly shifted the food to her side of the table and tossed Len's mat to the side. She opened the door.

"Piko, what's wrong?"

"Why the hell were you in my room?"

A shade of red filled Gumi's face. Sweat was beginning to build up on the back of her neck. "Mom asked me to look for something. I tried calling your phone, but you didn't answer."

"If I ask her, will she agree? Why the hell was my drawer open?"

"I was just looking for her fucking phone charger! Jesus-"

"Just shut up! Why the hell do you have a table in here?"

"I can't eat in peace? Is that really any of your business?"

Piko stared at the large amounts of food on the table and snorted. "You're a pig."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't say-"

"Fucking bullshit, Piko! Get the hell out before I tell mom that you said that to me. You're not going to pick a fight with me." Gumi felt her head and eyes burn as she pointed a shaky finger to the door. She put down her finger and shivered. "Piko, what's going on? What's-"

"Stop trying to get on mom's side and grow the hell up. Stop trying to act like the 'good' big sister when you were the one who made us move to this shitty little town! This is your entire fucking fault."

Piko was in Gumi's face now, his eyes wide open and bloodshot. Gumi's body shook like jelly, but she kept her composition together by clasping onto the last tangent idea in her mind, the last thread in her head that was telling her not to lose control in Len's presence.

"I thought we were done with this?" Gumi asked numbly.

Upon Gumi's lack of an emotional response, Piko's hand shot out. Gumi shrieked and caught her brother's wrist before his palm could hit her cheek.

"What the fuck!" Hot tears pricked at Gumi's eyes. "How dare you!"

"You deserve it! All the bad people get away with their shitty behavior and I'm fucking sick of it! Like that goddamn _gaijin_. At least everyone has sense here to punish him. Why can't people see what a bitch you are? You killed my dad and you're not even guilty about it!"

"You don't think that I feel guilty?" Gumi emitted a sharp laugh. "You don't remember why I didn't go to _our_ dad's funeral? Did you think that I was fucking around that day? I regret his death every single-"

"Shut up!"

Gumi shuddered as she sobbed. Piko's raw screeches of denial rang throughout her eardrums. Through the haze of her tears Gumi held up Piko's wrist and in the dim lighting she caught dark markings littering the bumps of his fist. "What is this? What are those?"

"Let go." Piko forced his wrist out of his sister's grasp.

"Why are there bruises on your hand? Are you serious? What gang did you join now?"

"I didn't join any fucking gang," Piko hissed, the shame becoming apparent on his face. "I got into a fight."

"Over what?"

"Shut up."

"You can blame me for getting us sent away from home, Piko, but your fucking antics in Okinawa didn't help us either. Are you going to hurt mom like that? Are you going to be that selfish?"

"You don't control my life," Piko sneered, "and mom isn't going to find out."

"Are you sure?" Gumi gestured to Piko's bruised hands.

"She's never around anyway. Don't tell her because I can easily make you look like shit. You know that mom likes me better. Kind of sucks that _daddy_ isn't around anymore, huh?"

Piko turned around and slammed the door behind him. Gumi held up her shaky hands up to her face with shock. She stared at the door and sobbed loudly, muffling her cries into her hands. She stood like this for a few minutes before she rubbed the sleeve of her sweater over her eyes.

"Oh shit, _Len_-"

She turned to the closet and opened it. Len stared at her quietly with eyes as big as the dishes on the table, squeezing his knees together tightly.

"Are you okay?"

Gumi sniffled. "Y-yeah."

"Good." Len nodded, his face ashen.

"I'm sorry about that."

"_I'm_ sorry." Len muttered. "You got in trouble because of me, over his stupid clothes-"

"Don't blame yourself. He would have found something else to yell at me over. Len, your face is white. Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"No, it's like you've seen a ghost. I know Piko and I just fought like rabid dogs and everything but there's something still bugging you. Why did you lash out at me earlier? Forget about me, what's wrong with you?"

"...do you want to know what Piko has been up to?"

Len lifted up his shirt to reveal the violets on his chest, and when she began to cry, Len pulled his shirt down again.

"I'm sorry."

"Pull your shirt back up." Gumi demanded. "I'll fix what that bastard did."

Len cautiously did so, his eyes settling on the girl's mucus-stained nostrils.

* * *

She muttered the same apologies over and over again, an apology to each violent violet that had blossomed on his skin, as she covered up his wounds with bandages.

"I wish you had told me sooner," she muttered, lost in her despair as she gave Len an icepack.

"I don't need it," Len protested, but he took it from the girl anyway to ease her worrying. "Today was the first day, anyway," he began, "and you're not going to convince him that today will be his last."

"I know," Gumi groaned. "I would rather that he hit me rather than you, but I'm a coward. You didn't see me? I couldn't let him hit me because I feel that I don't deserve it, but now that you know what I did to my father, I really should be taking your place."

"I know that you didn't kill your father. You'd be in jail if you did."

She paused for a moment as she was dabbing peroxide on his elbow. She continued after nodding slightly.

Len winced from the sting of the peroxide. "How did he die?"

Gumi slammed down the bottle of peroxide and she brandished Len with her eyes. "What makes you think you can ask me questions like that, but whenever I try to ask you about anything, you shut me down?"

Len jumped back from Gumi, his eyes wide. If he was balled up any closer in himself he would have folded into himself like a piece of paper. Gumi covered her face with a shaky hand.

"I'm stupid."

"No, that wasn't your fault. I'm a hypocrite." Len mumbled. He put down his icepack. "I won't bother you about it. Piko put you through hell today."

"He put both of us through hell."

"Can I just ask you one more thing? You don't have to answer me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Alright." Gumi reluctantly agreed. She began to apply the band aid onto his elbow. "Last one," she whispered quietly.

"Were you run out of town because you 'killed' your father?"

Gumi smiled sadly as she closed the lid on the box of band aids and placed it on the table. "At least if people had been cruel to me, I wouldn't be wishing to be in Okinawa again. No, it was something else that forced us to leave. Piko's behavior didn't help but…what I did was worse." Gumi shrugged her arms into the sleeves of her sweater and balled the ends of the sleeves in her palm, her hands sitting on her lap.

Len watched her. "Thanks for answering."

"You know, this has been a pretty pathetic day." Gumi took her hands out of her sleeves and began reorganizing her medical kit. "Let's do something."

"Like what? Play dolls?" Len lifted up the stuffed cat up from Gumi's pillow.

Gumi blushed but pouted as she shut the case of the kit. "That's not a doll, that's a stuffed animal, you uncultured blockhead."

The way Gumi spoke- trying to sound haughty yet making sure that her 'insult' was tinged with humor- emitted a genuine chuckle from Len. Gumi felt her heart flutter slightly at his laugh, feeling almost accomplished.

"I really should go, though."

Gumi stammered. "I was joking."

"I know," Len nodded, "but it's late and I should get home. It's already pretty dark and it's starting to snow again."

Gumi stared out of her window as snowflakes whirled around teasingly, promising her a foot or so of snow for her to shovel. "You're right. Let me get your clothes."

Gumi retrieved Len's clothes from the dryer and sighed at seeing a few faint stains remaining on Len's sweater. She let Len change in the bathroom ("I really don't want to wear _his_ clothes right now, but thanks for letting me borrow them," Len said) while she filled a bag of food for him.

"Here." She presented the bag to him.

Len frowned and looked into the bag. His eyes widened. "Why are you giving me all this? I got you in enough trouble today."

Gumi shook her head and dismissed Len's guilt. "Don't apologize. I'm just sorry that my brother-"

"Don't apologize." Len held up his hand. "To be honest, he can't hit for shit. Most of the bruising was caused by Gakupo and his friends."

"Piko was a sprinter back in Okinawa." Gumi found herself nibbling on her bottom lip again and stopped herself from annihilating her almost healed lips. "But he still shouldn't-"

"But he's going to. Don't worry about it."

"No, it's not fair. I'm going to do something about it."

Len raised his eyebrows at Gumi. "Well, good luck."

"Just…don't be afraid of me because of him." Gumi pleaded. "We're still tutoring?"

"Of course."

Gumi smiled, relieved. "Alright."

Once Gumi reassured Len that no one is downstairs, he walked down and out through the front door.

"I'm sorry that I don't have a jacket for you," Gumi called out.

Len shrugged. "At least I'm dry. Thanks again."

Gumi nodded and said goodbye to him, waving him farewell even when he turned his back and slipped into the blackness of the cold night. Gumi watched him disappear while she rubbed her lower back, which began to throb again. She went take a hot bath afterwards to soothe the aches. She went to shower off beforehand and gazed at a band aid that, the blood on it a rusty brown, had been left on the tiled floor. Gumi quietly tossed it into the trashcan.

* * *

It was Len and Rin's birthday, but if a stranger had walked by, they would have thought that it was only the girl's.

Len knew not to expect anything and not to ask for anything more than he already had, yet when Rin told him about the birthday party that she was having, he knew he had to go. It was his birthday too and he wanted to get a break from his increasingly strict life. He knew he wouldn't receive any gifts, but he was comforted by the idea of getting a slice of cake. When he asked the director if he could go to his sister's birthday party, the woman rolled her eyes.

"Why do you think that you deserve to go?"

"So I can be there for her, of course. You want me to go to the same school as her to keep her company, right? She wants me to be at her party, too."

The director couldn't argue with this; the only reason Len went to a decent school was because the director, as she reminded him from the first day of classes, had placed Len in school so he could be there for Rin. If he 'screwed up', as she politely put it, Len would be subject to an array of punishments, the severity depending on her mood. The worst that had happened to him physically at this point in his life was a slap on the face, but getting sent to bed without dinner wasn't fun for him either. The director still had contact with Rin and her new family, even though Rin had lived away from the director for a while now.

"Miss Sukone is like a second mother to me!" Rin chirped one day to Len during lunch.

Len sighed quietly at this exclamation. He couldn't deny this: the director had given Rin a birthday gift just like her new parents had, in addition to a grandiose party with her friends. It was supposed to be a surprise party organized by her friends, but the truth had slipped out a week beforehand and Rin's parents happily organized the rest of the party.

"What is he doing here? This party is for Rin."

Len turned his head and stared at the children whispering behind him. Rin often walked home with these friends, with Len often trailing behind them, whereas Len knew that her friends just tolerated him for being Rin's brother.

"It's my birthday, too." Len's words faltered as he turned his head. He gazed around the large house. Rin has it good, Len thought; as he walked into the spacious living room, he found Rin's adoptive mother and she led Len to Rin's room.

"Rin, your brother is here!"

The woman's voice was airy, cheery, and full of warmth. Len let her voice soothe him. The door swung open.

"Leeen!"

A flurry of pink hopped onto him.

"Hey, Rin."

Her adoptive mother walked away, content with this scene, while Rin grabbed Len's hands and bounced excitedly.

"Happy birthday, Len!"

"Happy birthday, Rin."

"Do you like my new dress, Len? It's got sparkles on it."

"It's really pretty."

"You know you don't like pink, Len."

"I still think it's nice."

"Did you get a new outfit for your birthday?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

Rin frowned while she led the boy into her bedroom. Len stared at her large bed. A cream-colored canopy shaded her orange polka-dotted comforter.

"So, when's your birthday party?"

"Huh?"

"Well, today's mine, right?" Rin smoothed out a crease on her dress. "When's _your _party?"

Len gulped. If he told Rin that he wasn't going to have a party, and then Rin would ask the director why Len didn't get to have a party. Then the director would explain to Rin that her brother hadn't wanted one, and then the director would go and berate Len for being so selfish and for ruining Rin's big day. Len couldn't deal with that.

"I thought this party was for both of us."

Len knew that this answer wasn't good either, as Rin frowned deeper this time.

"Okay," Rin slowly began, "but none of your friends are here. All of my friends are here. And my cake has my name on it, and so do the gifts."

Len wrung his hands together. "Never mind."

"I don't mind sharing Len, I really don't, but this party was kind of for me...but that's okay! We'll work it out."

Quietness settled in between the two children; Len wrung his hands while Rin gazed at the floor while she tapped her feet together.

"Rin! Everyone is here!"

"Okay!" Rin replied to her mother, her eyes widening with realization. She began bouncing again and her eyes shined brilliantly. "We've never had a party this big before, Len!" She took his hands. "I hope everyone has fun. I hope that I look pretty enough. I hope everyone likes the cake. I know that Gakupo doesn't like vanilla but the icing is vanilla so I hope he doesn't mind and..."

She was shaking, Len noticed, as her hands trembled in his. If she was nervous, the girl didn't show it, despite her shaky hands and despite voicing her worries. Rin brought Len into the living room where the rest of Rin's friends were. There were no issues whatsoever until the end. Rin recalled seeing Len quarreling in front of Gakupo and his friends. She could remember the feeling of her muscles tensing; something was about to go very wrong, and unfortunately, she was very right.

"I'm doing this for Rin! I'm not doing anything wrong."

Gakupo's face was red, with Dell and Yohio and a few other boys yelling at Len angrily. Dell approached Len, towering over the blond boy.

"Len, stop!" Rin begged as she came in between Len and Dell. Dell began to push her away to get to Len. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to help you! Stop acting so stupid, Rin." Dell snapped. Gakupo quickly pulled Dell away from Rin and pushed him.

"It's Rin's birthday! Don't call her that." Gakupo let go of Dell and ignored the boy's grunts.

Len juggled with his words. "Rin, they think that-"

"We were trying to prevent Len from running off with one of your gifts," Gakupo said.

"N-no! The gift fell and I was going to put it away-"

"No, you weren't, you leech!" Gakupo yelled. "I got that gift for Rin, not you, and-"

"Stop!"

Rin finally calmed down the boys and sighed. "I _did_ ask Len to reorganize the gifts. I didn't want everything to fall over." She had them apologize to Len, and they did, but with unrestful eyes and tight lips. Len followed Rin, as she requested. Rin opened a closet.

"Len, let's go outside."

Len watched his sister throw on a sweater. Rin gave him his jacket and the twins walked from the backdoor and onto the backyard decorated with snow.

"Rin, you know that I wouldn't steal your present."

"I know, Len, but why you were over there in the first place?"

The tone of his sister's voice distressed Len. The boy clutched his achy stomach. "The director doesn't like messes. I thought that I was trying to be helpful by organizing your gifts so that they wouldn't fall and create a bigger mess. I'm just used to cleaning. Rin, what would I do with a bunch of girly toys anyway?"

Rin pursed her lips while drawing a line into the snow. "Alright, Len, I'm sorry that I yelled." Rin looked at her white fingers and her orange fingernails. When she looked up again, she saw Len with his tongue out, reaching out for a snowflake. She rubbed her hands together uncomfortably. "I really have to talk to you about something else."

Len gave his attention back to his sister but gazed at the swing-set behind Rin. One swing held a small pile of snow; the other was only covered with a white dusting. "Yeah?"

"You have to stop… well, I don't know how to say this without being mean?" Rin gulped. "Len, you have to leave me alone. I need more space. I know that we're twins, but-"

"Rin, I have to watch over you."

Rin groaned and turned around, burying her face in her hands. "Len, please don't be dramatic." She faced Len again. The snow began to bite her ears and her patience slipped away. "Stop hovering over me, Len! Stop trying to protect me. I'm nine!"

"Rin-"

"These are my friends, Len. You need to find your own."

"It's hard to do that when everyone is already friends with you."

"That's not true, Len. You have Tei."

Len felt his stomach take a dive. "Not really."

"But I see you talking to her all the time?" Rin asked, puzzled.

"She practically corners me, Rin. She's too annoying. It's not fair, Rin! The director has been telling me to make sure that you had friends and that you're always happy. I can't make any friends if I have to keep watching over you."

"Then stop it! Tell Miss Sukone that I don't need to be watched over, if she even makes you do that. You can't keep clinging onto me forever, Len. We'll grow up one day and get married to different people and then we'll be moving far away from each other."

Len's breathe hitched. "Do you think so?"

"It happens most of the time, Len. You know that I want to get married to a pop star one day."

"Oh." Len sniffled quietly. His heart beat painfully, despite the childish absurdity of Rin's words, as the snow fell on their heads. Len watched Rin hum to herself quietly while her eyes became downcast. She shook the snow off of her hair. "Rin?"

"What is it, Len? Because I'd like to go back inside soon."

The girl shivered. Her cheeks were flushed. Strands of her hair flew back and forth in the wind. She shivered as she brought her chin to her chest.

"Why does everyone like you and not me?"

Len cringed at his sister's annoyed sigh.

"You need to be yourself, Len."

"Then what can I do if no one likes me how I am?"

"I don't know, Len." Rin snapped. "Maybe you should stop trying to copy me and then people will like you."

"And why would I want to try to copy someone as selfish as you?"

"How am I selfish?" Rin cried.

"I'm the one who makes sure you get home safe. You don't even thank me for trying to keep you company. You're selfish; you've forgotten who used to read to you at night while you cried for a mother and father. Now you have a family, and I don't. You've forgotten everything I did for you and now you're just awful. You're a spoiled brat."

Rin lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Rin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Thank you for your _help_," Rin said quietly, "and I won't need it anymore. Your favor is on the table in the kitchen. Goodbye, Len."

Rin watched her brother walk away and then she cried because she felt sorry for herself.

She didn't realize at the time how poorly her brother was being treated and the guilt still made her nauseous. Now that she knew everything from all different points of view, the thoughts of her ninth birthday party stressed her. Rin sat in her white room, as she rolled her finger around the edge of her porcelain bowl. She had a bowl of strawberries and cream right in front of her, yet her brother was starving every day. Rin had lost her appetite but she forced herself to eat. She was enraged at how her brother had been treated today, but Piko could be easily taken care of, and at least Gumi had taken care of Len. It was unfair to pin this girl onto her brother, considering that Gumi had enough problems of her own, but her brother had it worse and his pain had existed since their birth.

Gumi needs to see this memory, Rin told herself. However, the easiest thing for her to do was to only tell her about Len's birthdate and what to expect. She'd leave it at that. The birthday party would reveal too much and it was still too painful for Rin to think about it. Her ninth birthday was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, yet her selfishness ruined it. She had apologized to Len after that incident but she knew that it wasn't enough. The pain from the guilt lasted. It hurt more than being choked by the smoke from the cabin fire. Being burnt to death had hurt, of course. She could still remember her lungs burning and choking for air, but that pain was only temporary; the pain of being unable to be at peace with herself and her brother was agonizing. Rin gaged before she could swallow another spoonful of cream.

"I can't show Gumi," Rin said as she rubbed her forehead. "I'm not that cruel. Len needs to be happy. I'm helping him now…"

If everything worked out, Len would be happy. She and Len could be happy forever. She could rest in peace soon. Everything was working out. Only one concern arose when she had watched her brother and Gumi earlier: she had watched Len's cheeks redden while Gumi tended to her brother's wounds.

"Len doesn't trust anyone, though…" Rin muttered to herself. "He still barely trusts her."

She continued thinking about this scene until she heard a _plink_. At this sound, Rin wiped her lips with her napkin and cleaned herself up. Gumi had fallen asleep.

* * *

"Good evening."

Gumi rubbed her eyes and nodded at Rin. "Hey."

"So," Rin began, "how's tutoring going?" The blonde girl sat in her chair and began to pour Gumi a cup of tea before pouring a cup for herself. Gumi continued to stand.

"Well, you're already watching everything. You should already have a good idea."

"I just wanted to start a conversation on a positive note," Rin sighed, "Considering that today was, well, pretty awful for Len."

"I'm really sorry about Piko," Gumi said sorrowfully. '_But it was awful for me, too._' Gumi thought as her brother's rough words filled her head again.

"He's just another one of them." Rin shrugged. "It's not your fault. Your brother thinks, through vigilante justice, that he's admonishing those whom he thinks deserve to be punished. He's going through a rough period. He's caught in between being a good boy for your stressed mother and being a punisher for the guilty that are never deemed so by the government."

"But I can't keep letting him hurt Len. You hate this, Rin; your knuckles are white."

Rin gazed at her fingers that were grasping the handle of the teapot tightly. She set the teapot down. "You're a smart girl; you'll figure it out. You might even find your solution right in front of you tomorrow."

Gumi looked at the girl with furrowed eyebrows. Rin clapped her hands together, but not so harshly, as if she was afraid her porcelain hands would shatter and fall apart. "Speaking of time, Len's birthday is coming up."

"Really?"

"On December 26th."

"What should I do then?"

"Just be there for him. That's all you really can do." Rin sat up from her chair and walked over to Gumi.

"Here. I guess that it's a bit early to give you this, but while you're here, take it."

Gumi felt something fill her hands. She found bills worth thousands of yen sitting in her hands.

"Damn. How did you-? Never mind, that's a stupid question. Are you sure that it's a good idea to give me all this money now?"

"It's all for _Len_. Buy him something good. I trust you."

Gumi quickly nodded, staring at the money with wide eyes. "Of course!"

"Gumi," Rin's eyes darkened, and the sparkle in her eyes vanished. As Rin tilted her head downwards, the shadows covered her eyes. Gumi yelped nervously, expecting to see empty sockets when Rin brought her head up again. Her eyes were still there when Rin brought her head back up and offered the girl a firm glare.

"It's for Len. _Not_ you."

"I-I wouldn't try to spend it on myself, Rin." Gumi felt herself shrinking under Rin's harsh gaze.

"Good. Keep that promise."

"I swear."

Rin frowned. "Don't lose this money, either."

* * *

Gumi stared at the bags under her eyes in the bathroom mirror. She sighed; Rin was frightening at times. Rin's sudden anger was rather unwarranted, as was her brother's. At least Rin had a legitimate reason to be mad, Gum thought; Len needed the help that Rin was too far away to give him, and she had to ensure that Gumi wouldn't go against her requests. Rin didn't need to worry; the money she was given was stored safely in her drawer where her underwear was.

Gumi dressed herself and went downstairs to eat breakfast, but everything in the fridge and the pantry looked unappetizing.

"_I haven't eaten breakfast in a while, though._" Gumi realized.

Instead Gumi settled on looking through the newspaper left on the counter. Gumi rubbed her forehead when she saw Piko brush past her and slam the door behind him.

"What a douche…" Gumi began.

"_You might even find your solution right in front of you tomorrow._"

Gumi blinked at this thought and stared back down at the newspaper.

**Local nursing home looking for students, ages thirteen to eighteen, to help prepare meals and organize events for the elderly. Help needed from 15:00 to 17:00.**

'_Piko is turning thirteen soon…'_

Gumi grabbed the pen, circled the advertisement, and stuffed the page into her backpack.

'_Thanks, Rin._'

* * *

Piko stared at the blacktop from his seat. He frowned. It was going to be difficult to do anything on the blacktop with the amount of snow covering it. He didn't expect so much snow. He watched the snowfall from his window the previous night. He was sitting on his bed, angry. He was still angry. He needed to punish _Gaijin_ but how was he going to do so with all this damn snow?

'_But I'm doing something good. He's a monster._' He repeated this to himself.

He gave his attention back to his teacher. His teacher was discussing life in feudal Japan, a time when sons followed and obeyed their fathers. The father was the central figure of the household. It was the son's duty to carry on his father's name. The son was to follow in his father's footsteps. Father and son.

The words rang through Piko's ears and tightened his throat. Piko gazed up at the sky and soon he felt his eyes burn. He excused himself to use the restroom. Piko locked himself into the stall and then he permitted himself to sob silently while the hot tears poured over his cheeks and onto his legs.

'_He wouldn't be proud._'

* * *

**Okay I MESSED UP: last chapter, Gumi's mother says to Gumi: ****"M****ake sure you end up killing yourself over it, okay?" She's supposed to say: "Make sure you **_**don't **_**end up killing yourself over it, okay?" Holy shit, I was rereading the last chapter and when I saw that I wanted to slam my head against a wall. Haku has her faults but she would **_**never **_**intentionally hurt her daughter like that. I can't believe that I didn't catch that error so please, no worries, Haku is not an abusive nutjob. She's just an overtired and underpaid mother who hates seeing her kids stressed-out like herself. I feel that I sort of revealed Gumi's secret now, if some of you haven't guessed what Gumi did in the past. Ugh. My bad. I'll fix that later.**

**Yeah, but damn thank you all so much for the support! I'm making an author's note tomorrow and making it separate from this instead of explaining what's going on in my life right now in this chapter. When I make the author's note, I'll also reply to some of your reviews because why not? Some of you need a big high-five for remaining loyal to my story and my sporadic updates! So look out for that around tomorrow. Bye!**


	11. AUTHOR'S NOTE(S)

**NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER. PLEASE, DO NOT REVIEW THIS 'CHAPTER' EITHER. If you don't want to read this section, feel free not to. If you only want a generalization of what's going on in this section, check out the TL;DR blurb at the end.**

**(Also yeah I fucked up Rin and Len's birthday date. I'll fix that.)**

**(LASTLY, ****perhaps you've also noticed that the rating for **_**Scorned**_** changed to M? It's M now because everyone has a potty mouth, but, hopefully that hasn't turned you guys off. I might change it back to T but not even the WORSE has happened yet in this story so it might just be rated Mature for now.)**

**SO YEAH I'M BACK**

**So what can I say at this point to you guys? Thank you all so much for the support, even though, as you can see, that this story is pretty much shit. It's gone down the goddamn toilet. I really didn't anticipate the recent influx of reviews and followers. I've been in France for a week and I just got back on Thursday and so when I got all of this support I was honestly surprised. My confidence with this story has gone down a lot because of the plot holes/errors but I won't end this because of that. I'll finish what I started and do my best to improve. I just got back from Marseille and classes start back up again on Monday (tomorrow!) so I wanted to finish this up for you guys before my English skills go down the drain once I have to start speaking Spanish 24/7 ;w; Thanks for all of your patience!**

**I'm making this 'chapter' separate because, again, it was too long to attach to the last chapter. Besides travelling, I've been dealing with annoying digestive issues that I won't explain in detail, but I really can't get it treated until I go back to the U.S. It's been keeping me from eating normally and I feel bloated all the time. It also keeps me from thinking straight and I feel 'slow' often. Basically I can't concentrate sometimes and other times I feel dissociated from everything. It's frustrating and I really hate making these excuses but unfortunately this is my life until August. Fortunately my stomach didn't act up too badly in France and I figured that I'd get this done before my stomach starts acting up again. So, again, thanks for the support!**

**Lastly, I decided to respond to some of your reviews to thank you guys and to clear up some confusion.**

**Lolrus555: Thanks for your support! I can't really blame you for hating everyone…maybe your opinion of some characters will change by the end, though? And your opinion of Tei might change, too. We'll see. Thanks for your reviews! :3**

**Monochrome: Thank you for your kindness! Thank you for your patience as well! I'm glad you think the story is humorous, considering all the shit that happens to everyone. Also, keep an eye out on Oliver…**

**iDontCare: Thank you too for your reviews! Sorry that the chapters move a bit slowly sometimes, but sometimes they're needed to provide important information. Also, expect a bit more Len/Gumi in the future. I believe that you're the biggest Len/Gumi fan here…you might have to watch out for the Len/Tei fans, though!**

**Writer-san: WELCOME TO THE CLUB /Pops a bottle of champagne/ ****To be honest when you called Miku a 'clingy wench' I snorted a little bit because on a basic level that does describe her…but there's also a LOT more to her that we'll see soon. Miku wasn't born with the thought process she has today. Piko is also acting irrationally and he's harming his sister, but there will be more flashbacks and reminiscing. His current actions can't be completely excused (he thinks that he's doing something good) but the next chapters will provide insight as to why he's acting the way he is.**

**Clockwork Marionette: Thanks for your comments! ovo Rin and Len's relationship is complicated. Unfortunately Rin had no idea what Len was going through while they were children and she had her own problems to deal with as well. She seems unsympathetic now but we'll see more of Gakupo and Rin and the issues that they went through as children. Rin KNOWS that she isn't perfect, which also contributes to a lot of her problems as she still tries to be the 'flawless' girl she was before she died, which wasn't easy for her to do while she was alive, either.**

**To all other reviewers, thank you so much! I'll do my best to get chapter 11 up soon. If you've read what I said to the reviewers above, you have a glimpse at one will happen in the next few chapters, but the shitstorm that is slowly coming together hasn't even started yet.**

**TL;DR I went back in time and punched Genghis Khan in the face, which prevented me from updating sooner.**


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